Secret Base
by IBurn
Summary: Freezerburn VS Monochrome, series. It started out as a happy childhood for the four of them - adventures, catching fish, hide and seek near 'Secret Base'. However, as they grew up, they realized that life wasn't smooth and easy as they expected it to be. Rated M for future events, slight AU where SDC had nothing against Faunus. Please review.
1. Chapter 1 - Reunion

**Hello guys. So I wanna try doing a longer series than 'Tomorrow' and here it is. I've planned everything and hopefully this'll be…well, more organized and better than 'Tomorrow'.**

 **If you like my fics, you can support me by donating to me. PM me or look for "IBurn 'Tank' RWBY Fanfic Author" on FB to approach me. Thank you~**

 **I do not own RWBY.**

 **#**

 **Chapter 1: Reunion**

Last she checked the clock, it showed eleven in the night.

She checked it again five minutes later and the clock showed three in the morning.

"I'm done. That's it, I'm done." She stood up from the fancy office chair and stretched. There was nobody else but her in the entire Schnee Dust Company headquarter by now and she was glad. She didn't have to put up a stern face and go around yelling at people who lazed around in the office to work harder; she could be herself now.

Being the CEO of a company this big wasn't easy, but Weiss had pretty much already got used to it. She had been doing it for four years and so far, it was good. Business was expanding by years and she had become the richest person in the world at the age of only twenty-two. Plus she was also considered a legend in the world of business. Who knew she was even more capable than her father Walter Schnee?

Still, it was pretty stressful and Weiss hadn't had a day off for the past four years. It was a miracle she didn't get sick for the amount of stress and the severe lack of sleep; so she had decided to take one day off before things got worse.

Weiss insisted she didn't want to hire a driver. She preferred to do everything by herself and driving was on the top of the list; her car wasn't a fancy one either, just a normal economic car that majority of the people in Remnant could afford.

She turned the ignition key and immediately the engine roared to life, breaking the tranquility of the night. Rolling down the window a breeze passed by, reminding her of a certain gang of people she truly loved.

 _I wonder how they're doing…_

After a few minutes of squirming around the seat she had decided to give her favorite place a visit. She hadn't been there many years and she was afraid that the place was destroyed for city development.

 _No, that's unlikely. That place's just a small town by that time and I haven't heard any big news about it ever since I left._

She called her staffs to prepare a private airship and half an hour later she was already on board, flying towards a certain direction. She forced herself to take a nap but everytime she closed her eyes, those unwanted memories flooded her brain, causing her to lose concentration. In the end she just gave up and sat there staring at the dark sky outside, letting her thoughts flow free.

"Miss Schnee, we have arrived."

Her staff's voice snapped her out of the chain of thoughts as she nodded and stood up.

"You can leave me here. Fly back to Atlas and I will call when I need you." She ordered before stepping out of the Schnee airship.

"Understood."

Vale didn't change at all - she could still recognize the roads and the houses here. The streetlight here was dim compared to the ones in Atlas and it was really quiet; not even a single sound of vehicles could be heard. Her destination was a pretty far forest at the end of Vale and being on high heels certainly didn't help. Sighing, she took out her scroll and dialed a number.

"Yes, it's me. Are you available at the moment?" The heiress paused a while, "Yes, I'm in Vale and I need a ride. I'm outside on the street in front of Schnee airport. Yes, thank you."

Few minutes later a car arrived and Weiss walked to the passenger side. She opened the door and got in while talking to the driver; her mood relaxed and her voice was lack of the usual formal tone.

"Hello Coco."

"You better have a good reason to get me all the way here in the middle of my work." The woman smiled, "So, where are we going?"

"Dragon Tears Forest. Just drop me at the entrance." Weiss replied.

Coco wanted to ask the reason the heiress going there in the middle of the night, but ultimately decided against it, for that she knew she wouldn't get a decent answer anyway.

"Sure."

"Thank you."

The atmosphere got awkward in the middle of the journey because neither of them talked, so Coco had started some light topic to keep herself entertained.

"So…how you doing?"

"Tired." Weiss answered, "The company is expanding like there's no end."

"Ah." Coco said as the car turned right at a junction.

"What about you?" Weiss asked.

Although Coco worked for her as the head of a fashion design company under Schnee Dust Company, the two almost never talked to each other face to face; most of the time it was either scroll-video conferencing or just a report in the form of e-mail from the brown-haired woman.

"Tired too. Was working on some new designs for combat skirts and was stuck. Good thing you called me, maybe I'll get some inspirations out here." The woman sighed.

"Don't stress out too much Coco." The heiress smiled, "So far your company has the best sales."

"Of course, guess who the head of that successful company is?" Coco teased.

"Head? She's sitting beside you my dear." Weiss smirked.

Both women laughed as they reached Dragon Tears Forest. Coco parked the car beside the empty road and had a brief talk with Weiss before the latter went out.

"Anything you call me okay?" The brown-haired girl said, her voice sounded concerned.

"Sure. Don't worry Coco, I'm fine. Thanks for getting me here." Weiss smiled as she closed the door and waved her friend goodbye.

After waving back Coco had driven back to her office slash home, leaving the heiress alone in the forest.

Weiss' watch now showed five in the morning and she was strangely not sleepy at all. Maybe the Dread Bull did give her 'energy' to survive long nights; on top of that she drank two cans of it this afternoon thinking she would be needing it to finish the financial reports that was piled up taller than her own height on her office table.

The forest did not change at all; Weiss could recognize the path towards her destination easily even without proper lighting. The moon provided just enough light for her to see things and not trip on the huge tree roots covering the ground. After Dust knew how long she finally arrived at that beautiful cave – which they named it 'Secret Base'.

"Still the same…" She mumbled to herself. She hadn't been here for nine years and the cave was still beautifully preserved. It was located beside a huge lake with crystal clear water and it was made of clean steady rocks. Between the cave and the lake was a beautiful lane with several huge rocks on it; on spring the lane would bloom with colorful flowers; on summer it would be covered with green grass; on fall it would be covered with an ocean of golden and red while on winter, a layer of soft white blanket.

Every single thing had been the same, she thought, before she noticed something strange – a figure sitting on one of those familiar rocks on the now green lane.

The figure was a woman, gazing at the lake and she didn't seem to notice Weiss' presence. As the heiress walked nearer to her, the lake had reflected the moonlight at an exact angle to show the identity of this woman.

"Yang?"

The figure jumped and stood up, two yellow colored gauntlets readied to fire as she took battle stance, glaring at the intruder.

"Weiss?"

Burning crimson eye had extinguished and was soon replaced by lilac as Yang jumped down from the rock, landing precisely in front of the heiress.

"You've…grown up." Weiss tried to maintain her calm posture, but her voice had sold her out. Instead of a steady tone it came out rather shaky and full with uncertainty.

"It's been nine years Weiss." Yang said, her expression and tone unreadable.

"Why…are you here?"

"I didn't expect you to come here at this time." Yang's tone was still flat.

"Me neither." The heiress simply replied.

"It's been a while, princess." The blonde smiled, although her eyes were hollow, "It's nice to see you again."

Weiss couldn't say anything. She just stood there stubbornly fighting back the urge to break down and cry.

A shadow was sitting behind some bushes, listening to their conversation in silent. Tears fell down her cheek as she heard their voices and recalled the memories from their past.

#

Weiss Schnee, ten year old was strolling through the woods wearing a white skirt with a blue colored family logo on her back. She was bored in her big house so she had come out to look for the rumored lake she saw on a magazine. The magazine stated that the lake had crystal clear water and was surrounded by nice scent of different flowers and breathtaking scenery – in short a total heaven.

And then she saw a big dog with golden fur and a pair of brown eyes sniffing his way through the forest. Curious, she followed him and had totally forgotten about searching for that heavenly lake. The dog obviously knew Weiss was following him but he paid no mind to her; instead he kept walking towards a certain direction.

He led the way out when they reached a forest opening and as Weiss followed him stepping out, a gigantic lake came to view. It was surrounded by a blast of different colored flowers and the breeze had filled the whole place with a faint fragrance. The water was so clear Weiss swore she could see the bottom of the lake.

"Ruff!" The dog barked to her, as if he wanted to show Weiss something. He was now near to a cave and was wagging his tail hard while looking at Weiss with awaiting eyes.

The heiress walked to the dog and he sat down as she pat his head.

"Thanks for bringing me here cutie." She smiled. Even though she was distracted by him, she had achieved her initial goal – finding the rumored lake. She was pretty sure the one in front of her was that lake on the magazine.

"Ruff!" The dog turned his head to the cave behind him.

"You want me to go in there?" Weiss asked.

"Ruff!" The dog stood up and walked behind her as he nuzzled his nose in the heiress' back.

Weiss smiled as she carefully stepped inside the cave. It was a beautiful cave with rocks that weren't slippery as there was no moss on it. It wasn't deep but it had enough room to fit at least ten adults in. The ground was clean too, with a minimal amount of dirt on it and there were a few rocks inside for visitors to sit on them.

"Wow…" Weiss was once again amazed by the power of nature.

"Ruff ruff!" The dog barked as a _loud_ screaming could be heard outside the cave. He then ran outside and the heiress followed him.

"Oh there you are!" The dog had leaped into the arm of a little girl approximately around Weiss' age; the size of the dog was too big for her to handle as the both of them fell onto the ground with the dog on top, resulting an 'ugh' from the girl.

"Next time don't go running all by yourself!" The girl pushed the dog out of her way as she sat up, wiping off his drool on her, "And stop drooling on me, I just showered!"

The dog whined and sat beside her, nuzzling her with his nose as he looked at the heiress who was now standing just outside the cave.

"Whoa hi there, didn't see you." She stood up, dusting her orange colored shirt a bit before walking to Weiss.

"It's fine." The heiress said. The girl was pretty tall for kids of her age and had a golden mane that was tied into pigtails, a pair of lilac eyes and a sincere smile. She scratched her head a bit and pointed to the dog.

"I'm sorry if he bothered you. He's kinda naughty sometimes."

"He didn't." Weiss smiled, "In fact I have to thank him for bringing me to this wonderful place."

"He did?" The girl turned to the dog, the latter skipping to her happily.

"Yes." The heiress nodded, "He's a cutie."

"Aww don't praise him too much, it'll get to his head!" The girl laughed and Weiss just smiled in reply.

It went awkward for a few minutes between them and the girl was desperately trying to figure out a topic to talk while the heiress waited patiently; she found the girl squirming and constantly playing with her hair amusing. Although it was hard for Weiss to admit it but this blonde girl was rather pretty and if she was to swallow her pride – their differences were like the man-made swimming pool behind her own house and the gorgeous lake in front of her. Never in her life had she seen someone as beautiful as the blonde.

"Well…" The blonde finally spoke, "Umm…do you want to be friends?"

"Sure." The heiress answered almost immediately.

"Yes!" The blonde was beaming with happiness as she held out her right hand, "My name is Yang, nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Weiss." She took her hand.

"Wow, your hand is so cold." Yang said, "Mine is warm! You wanna touch'em?"

With that, the blonde released the grip and instead spread out both her palms. The heiress hesitated for a while before grabbing them and Dust, they were warm like the sun!

"It's so warm." The heiress said, "My hands are always cold. Low blood circulation it seemed."

"Ahh. Don't worry, if you feel cold, you can take my hand!" She grinned.

"Thank you Yang." She smiled back.

"No problem!" Yang said. She released the heiress' hands when they got warm enough and put her own hand around the dog, "This is Topaz. He's my family~"

"Family?" Weiss tilted her head.

"You see, I uh…I don't have mommy and daddy. I live with Topaz in an abandoned house inside the forest." Yang said, her voice missing the usual cheerfulness, "I get money from Vale Social Benefit to buy food."

"I'm sorry Yang." Weiss said guiltily.

"No no!" Yang waved her hand, "You did nothing wrong!"

"But…"

"It's fine, really. Besides I have Topaz by my side!" She said, hugging the dog.

"Ruff!" He barked back.

"He's a golden retriever. Abandoned by his mother too…I found him half dead in the forest a few years ago." Yang said, ruffling the dog's fur.

"You mean your mother…?"

The blonde nodded and sighed, then shook her head, "I never knew why."

"Yang…"

"Alright, this is getting more and more depressed." Yang huffed, "We should do something fun instead!"

Topaz barked and ran into the cave upon hearing that. The blonde smiled, seemingly to understand what he was trying to say; she followed him into the cave with a Weiss behind her. She became excited instantly seeing the magnificent cave and went to explore every single corner until she was satisfied.

"You know," Yang said, clenching her fist in front of her chest, "My dream is to become a huntress!"

"Wow!" Weiss exclaimed, "But those monsters out there are so scary!"

"That's why I want to be a huntress! I wanna kill them and have adventures outside the kingdom!"

"But Yang, that is dangerous!"

"And super awesome!" The blonde raised her fist, "I love exciting adventures Weiss and I heard huntresses have a good payment too! That's killing two birds with a stone!"

"With one stone." The heiress corrected her.

"It's the same!"

"No it isn't!"

"Whatever~" The blonde smirked.

"You dolt." The heiress smiled.

They spent the rest of the day chatting and went exploring the area around the cave. They sat on the huge rocks beside the lane filled with different kinds of flowers and the blonde had jumped into the lake from it to swim. Weiss just pouted and said that she didn't know how to swim when the blonde encouraged her to jump after her. Topaz had jumped up the rock to sit beside her to keep her accompanied while his master swam happily inside the crystal clear lake.

Evening approached as Yang got up from the lake, her clothes drenched with a mixture of lake water and sweat. Weiss handed her handkerchief to the girl and the latter gladly accepted it as she wiped off the water on her face.

"I'll wash it and return it to you tomorrow." The blonde said.

"It's fine, you can keep it."

"If I keep it," Yang scratched her head, "That means…uh…we're not seeing each other again?"

The heiress instantly understood her meaning. She shook her head and waved her hands, "No no Yang. I would love to see you again. I'll be here tomorrow around the same time."

"Wow! Alright, see ya tomorrow here princess!"

"Don't call me that!" Weiss pouted, "But thank you for keep me accompanied. That means a lot to me Yang."

"You're welcome, milady." Yang said as she faked a knight salute.

"You dolt."

Yang and Topaz guided her to walk out of the thick forest and they went separate ways at the entrance. The blonde held the handkerchief tight to her chest as they walked into another entrance to Dragon Tears Forest and headed towards their home.

 _She's so cute._

Yang couldn't help but kept grinning to herself on the way.

#

Weiss walked to the nearest public phone booth and dialed her driver's number. A few minutes later he arrived to pick her back home.

"I'm back."

Her voice echoed through the majestic hallway in her house.

"Welcome back Miss Schnee." A maid had come out from the door at the end of the hallway and greeted Weiss.

"Where are papa and mama?" She asked the maid, her voice broken and lonely.

"They're at work Miss Schnee." The maid smiled, "But they promised they'll come back as soon as they're free."

"I understand."

Weiss walked to her own room and collapsed on the bed.

 _Papa and mama made that promise everytime. But not even once had they fulfilled it._

She closed her eyes as tears started to roll down her face.

 _I miss them…they didn't come back since two months ago…I'm so lonely…_

Weiss Schnee was sleeping alone tonight again, just like any other days she went through in the past ten years.

But that certain blonde she met today had made it a little different from usual – she smiled as she could still feel the remnants of warmth on her hands.

 **#**

 **Thank you for taking your time to read this story. Please review and tell me what you think of it.**

 **And yes, it's a Freezerburn VS Monochrome story but there's no Blake?! Fear not, she's coming soon.**

 **This name 'Secret Base' is taken from Anohana yeah. I watched that story last year and…my sister scolded me for not shedding a single tear and accused me as a monster. I don't know, it's touching and stuff but…I just couldn't cry, I don't know why.**

 **Enough rant of me, hope you enjoy this new series!**

 **(Also, the new design for volume 4 is super awesome!)**


	2. Chapter 2 - Best Day Ever

**If you guys noticed, I'm really bad at writing stories where the main characters are kids. Please bear with me. I'm sorry! *says using Prryha's tone***

 **#**

 **Chapter 2: Best Day Ever**

Weiss woke up really early in the morning the second day, eager to meet a certain blonde and continue their adventure near the cave yesterday. She gulped down breakfast and asked her driver to get her to Dragon Tears Forest and the man happily obliged.

He had been working as a driver for the Schnee family for almost five years and the heiress had never been smiling this much. He knew loneliness haunted her day and night because her parents couldn't be with her all the time – they were too busy with the company as it was expanding like there's no tomorrow. So when the man, George was his name, saw the girl's face yesterday night when she had returned from her little adventure, he didn't even doubt that the girl would once again asked him to drive her to that forest.

He was certain that she met someone there too. Growing up as the heiress of the richest company in the world didn't do much for her to have true friends. Children of business partners met with her sometimes yes, but George knew their relationship was merely…well, beneficial; unlike those genuine friendship you rarely saw out there where people really care for each other.

"We're here, Miss Schnee." The driver said as the car came to a halt just in front of the entrance to the forest.

"Thank you ." Weiss said, "I'll call you when I'm done!"

"Of course, Miss Schnee. Be safe!" George smiled.

The heiress happily skipped to the entrance of the path to the cave and saw Topaz sitting there; he was obviously waiting for her to guide her through the forest which was totally a maze to the heiress.

"Hello Topaz. Thank you for waiting here!" Weiss exclaimed as she patted the dog's head, earning a cheerful bark from him. He then lifted his head, revealing a crumpled sheet of paper that was stuffed inside his red leather collar.

Weiss knew who wrote the message for her without even had to guess, judging by the fact that the cheerful blonde wasn't around with her 'family'. On the paper was some messy handwriting that wrote 'You go on ahead with Topaz, I have to collect muney from VSBC. See ya later there!'

She chuckled at Yang's misspelled of 'money' and turned to Topaz, "I guess she has to study harder."

"Ruff!" The dog barked as if he was agreeing to her.

"Well, let's get going. Please lead the way you cutie!" Weiss said as the golden retriever stood up and walked slowly towards a particular direction while wagging his tail.

It didn't take long for them to reach that cave. But what had surprised the heiress was a figure that was too small to be Yang sitting inside it on some rocks; she was hugging her knees to her chest, making it difficult for Weiss to take a good look at this newcomer.

Topaz wanted to walk to the figure but Weiss had put her hand in front of him, stopping him from going any further.

"Stay here Topaz. I'll go."

Topaz whined and the heiress was rather surprised that she could understand what the dog had told her.

"It's okay boy. It's a little girl like myself and she's small. I'll be fine."

Topaz sat down as she girl patted his head and whispered 'good boy' before making her way to that figure. As she got closer, she could her faint sobbing and immediately she froze. Whoever that little girl was, she was crying alone inside a cave and Weiss knew it wouldn't be good if someone was doing that.

"Excuse me?" She said, startling the girl as she jumped a little bit.

Weiss could see her look clearer now – this girl had black long hair that was just a little shorter than her own and it wasn't tied up into a ponytail like hers; her eyes were golden and somewhat watery, probably from the crying just now. She wore a white T-shirt and a black short along with a pair of slippers of both colors. She also wore a black ribbon on top of her head.

"Are you alright?" The heiress said as she stood still, having a little distance from the raven-haired girl. She didn't want to make her more upset than she was already.

"I…I'm fine." The other girl said as she wiped her eyes with her hands.

Weiss slid her hand inside her pocket and realized her handkerchief wasn't there. She clenched her fist, remembering the fact that she'd given it to Yang and she had forgotten to get a new one from the maid before departing.

"I'm Weiss." She said after making a decision to just sit beside her on another rock, "What is your name?"

The girl hesitated for a while before replying her, "I…I'm Blake."

"Is there anything I can do?" Weiss frowned.

"It's fine…Weiss." Blake looked away from the heiress, trying to avoid having eye contact with her.

"Umm…" Weiss twitched her fingers, trying hard to come up with a topic. Her eyes brightened up when she saw a certain golden retriever sitting outside the cave, "Oh Blake, I know! Topaz will make you feel better!"

"Topaz?" Blake questioned.

Weiss beckoned the dog and the latter happily obliged, skipping to her.

Blake saw as the big dog getting nearer and nearer to her and she was absolutely terrified. For certain reason she was dead afraid of dogs – and the one that was coming to her was _not_ a small one.

She jumped and hugged the heiress out of reflex, causing Topaz to come to a halt, sensing the insecurity and fear that the black haired girl emitted.

"Blake? Are you afraid of dogs? I'm really sorry!" Weiss said, hugging back the poor girl.

And immediately she felt warmth from the embrace – a feeling that she longed for; a feeling that she hadn't experience since two months ago when her parents came back to visit her. Sure, they love her so much and wanted her to have the best things in her life; her clothes, toys, education and so on were all the best of the best. But, her parents didn't know what she really wanted – just to spend time with each other or a simple hug would make Weiss' day.

And Blake smelled like alcohol. She knew this smell too well; she'd seen her parents drinking wine and occasionally some strong alcohol in cold days to warm themselves up.

Concerned, she released Blake and motioned Topaz to come to her side instead. The dog just sat down on the ground as far as possible from Blake but not too far from the heiress.

"Blake, what is wrong? Are you drinking?" She asked – the heiress knew alcohol was supposed to be an adult thing.

"No…it's…" Blake squirmed, her eyes once again watery.

"Sorry, oh Dust, I didn't mean to upset you! Sorry Blake!" Weiss waved her hands in panic.

"No…you didn't. It's…it's just I'm not very good with people." She put her hands on her lap, gripping the fabric tight.

Weiss saw the dilemma of Blake and immediately realized she'd been prying into a stranger's privacy. She felt like as if she was forcing Blake to tell her about her personal life and she knew she shouldn't be snooping into other people's business.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." The heiress straightened her back, using the formal tone that was normally saved for talking to those hypocrites that flattered her all the time whenever there was a party in the Schnee mansion.

Blake didn't answer her. She just looked to the ground guiltily and Weiss had decided to take her outside to make her feel better.

"Blake? Let's go outside, the lake is beautiful." She smiled, "It'll make you feel better."

Blake obliged and they both sat against the huge rock on the green soft grass facing the lake. Weiss didn't care about her white dress getting dirty; she was occupied with thoughts on how to make this girl feel better.

After several moments of awkward silence, the black haired girl had sighed and turned to Weiss with an apologetic look. The heiress smiled and they started talking.

"Thank you for helping me." Blake said, "It means a lot to me Weiss."

Weiss giggled at this feeling of déjà vu – the feeling of hearing the exact same thing that she said yesterday happening again in an almost similar situation was quite amusing to her.

"It was nothing."

"I…my parents…" Blake said, tiny hands shaking, "They're always arguing…sometimes when papa drinks…alcohol…it gets worse and…and they start throwing things at each other."

Hugging her knees tight to her chest the girl continued, "I was scared. They never accidentally hurt me but…seeing the two people I love the most…doing things like that…I'm really scared…"

Weiss put her hand on Blake's shoulder as a sign of encouragement.

"Does your papa and mama do things like that?"

"No." Weiss shook her head, "I…I don't see them very often."

"You don't live with them?"

"Yes I do. They're just…not home very often." Weiss sighed, "They spent most of their time working."

"It must be very lonely." Blake said, "I'm sorry…"

"What are you apologizing for?" Weiss crossed her arms, "It's not your fault!"

Blake shrunk and Weiss quickly corrected herself, "I mean, they're not around me all the time. But I know they love me. Your parents love you too Blake. Maybe that's the reason they aren't divorced yet."

"Divorce? What's it mean?" The girl asked, her voice genuine.

"Do you know what marriage is?" That earned a nod from the girl, "Okay, divorce is the opposite of marriage."

"Marriage is getting together, so divorce is…" Blake's face turned to horror, "No! I don't want them to break up!"

"That's the point." Weiss smiled, "They didn't break up with each other although they fight. It means they still love you Blake."

"Oh…" The black haired girl calmed down, "I understand now."

"At least you two still have parents to be with you." A new voice said.

Topaz jolted towards the newcomer as both girls turned to her, startled.

"I…don't even know how they look like." Yang smiled pitifully.

"I'm sorry." Blake looked at the blonde.

"Nah it's fine. You're Weiss' friend?" Yang sat down beside Weiss and leaned forward to take a good look at this new girl.

Blake didn't know how to answer her and Weiss had cut in before she was about to say something, "Yes, Blake's my new friend."

"Blake huh? Such a beautiful name!" Yang exclaimed and held out her hand, "The name's Yang, nice to meet you!"

"N…nice to meet you too, Yang." She timidly took her hand.

Judging from Blake's expression and her unwillingness to let go of the blonde's hand, Weiss knew the girl loved the warmth too. But sitting in the center of two people holding hands wasn't the most pleasant situation in the world, so she faked coughing and Blake immediately apologized while releasing the grip. Yang on the other side just grinned and winked at her.

"Ruff!" Topaz who had been staying at Yang's side quietly all the time suddenly jumped and turned around to face the opening of the forest.

A girl with black hair and had the end of it dyed red was standing there, panting as she used a tree as her pillar of support. Her black colored shirt and long pants were ruffled and dry leaves could be seen sticking to her all over the body. What had caught the trio's attention was the red cloak she was wearing along with a hoodie of the same color.

The newcomer gasped when she saw Topaz and had spread her arms while running to the dog.

"Ahhh! You're so cute!"

"Ruff!" Topaz didn't seem to dislike her sudden display of affection; in fact he happily returned it as he ran towards the girl and tackled her to the ground while licking her face.

"Ahahaha, stop it! It tickles!"

"Topaz!" Yang shouted and the dog immediately stopped, "C'mere boy. You'll drown her with your drool!"

The dog obliged as the little girl in red cloak stood up. The moment she saw Blake she had darted to her in an eye-blinding speed, kneeling in front of the startled girl while putting both her hands on Blake's knees.

"Blake! Are you okay?!"

"Ruby! Why are you here?"

"I saw you running out of your house when I was coming back from shopping with mom and dad!" Ruby squeaked, "I saw you crying and you look really bad so I came after you! Are you alright?!"

"Yes I'm alright Ruby." Blake took the girl's hand.

"Phew! I thought your parents accidentally hit you and you became upset! Thank Dust you're okay!"

The girl then looked at Weiss and Yang with a sheepish smile while she introduced herself. Her name was Ruby Rose and she was two years younger than the three of them. She was Blake's neighbor and she knew Blake's condition with her parents. Although she wanted to help her, she couldn't do much as an eight year old child and her parents didn't want to interfere with other people's family business. So far Blake's parents treated her well – the only issue being them fighting with one another all the time. The police couldn't do anything because they had never once harmed their only daughter; all they could do was to give a warning on making too much noise and creating great disturbance to the neighbors around.

They went around introducing each other and the moment Weiss told them her full name, everyone's jaw dropped.

"Schnee? You mean that super rich family Schnee?!" Ruby squeaked.

Weiss just blushed and nodded.

"Wow, you really are a princess!" Yang exclaimed in awe.

"Stop calling me that!" She huffed.

"But seriously, I never expect that…rumored heiress would be…oh Dust how could I miss it! Weiss Schnee! I should've known it the moment you told me your name!" Yang smacked her own forehead.

"There aren't bodyguards around secretly watching us right?" Ruby peeked around.

"No!" Weiss waved her hands and looked down, "No bodyguards are following me. I promise there isn't…please don't leave me alone again…"

"Aww we're not gonna ditch you because you're rich Weiss!" The blonde put her arm around the heiress, "Why would you think we'll do that?"

"Yeah!" Ruby imitated Yang.

The heiress smiled timidly as she lifted her head and immediately blue orbs met lilac, and then silver. She turned to the last girl in the gang, "Blake?"

"I…I won't abandon my friend!" Blake said as she held the heiress' hand.

"Thank you all…" Weiss fought the urge to cry as Topaz started barking at them.

"What is it boy?" Ruby released the heiress as Topaz ran to the cave, her sight following the hyperactive creature, "Oh, a cave!"

"You should totally check that out Rubes!" Yang exclaimed as she ran there.

"Wow, she's on nickname basis already." Weiss said as her lips curved upwards a little bit.

"Coming Yang!" Ruby threw up both her hands and ran there. That left the black and white pair there looking at them bouncing around the cave to explore it – although the blonde had already did that yesterday, she made sure to entertain the younger girl. It was almost as if they were sisters.

"Come on Blake, let's go join them." Weiss said, holding the black haired girl's hand while looking at her, waiting for approval.

She started walking when she saw that shy nod of her friend's.

"Hey, Yang, Blake and Weiss!" Ruby shouted when they all reached the cave, both her hands gesturing a motion as if she was holding a long stick, "Listen! When I grow up, I wanna be a huntress! A hero that saves the world, just like the fairy tale mommy read me every night!"

"Me too Rubes!" Yang's eyes were _beaming_ with excitement as she high-fived the girl. Never in her life had she seen another girl around her age with a dream to become a huntress just like herself. Everyone in the school assumed this job to be too dangerous and impossible for them to handle; some even laughed when Yang told them about her dream.

Of course, Yang didn't have the money to study in a combat elementary school so she had settled for the government ones that taught basic education, but she planned on training by herself to get stronger and eventually gain the scholarship to go to a combat middle school. She knew Signal Academy provided a few scholarships spot for talented youngsters.

"What about you guys?" Ruby looked at Weiss and Blake, her hands busy moving in a skilled way – as if she was holding a spear or some weapons like that, swinging it around. Blake remembered that both Qrow and Summer who were Ruby's parents were both extremely skilled huntsmen. The man especially was the only one in the world who could wield a scythe with a skill that no one had ever possessed before; it was as if the scythe was a part of his body. And he certainly had taught Ruby well in that aspect.

"I'm going to take over the company." Weiss said proudly while puffing her chest, "My grandpa started the company and I won't let it end on my generation!"

That earned a round of applause from Ruby and Yang. The heiress blushed and just turned away from them.

"What about you Blake?" Ruby turned to the timid girl.

"I…I don't know." Blake said, "I just want papa and mama to not fight with each other."

"We'll help you." Yang said.

"Yeah, I think when we grow bigger we'll understand more about why they fight and hopefully solve your problem." Weiss smiled.

"Yeah! Oh Dust guys, don't this cave looks like some super secret place for cool huntress to meet up to you all?" Ruby jumped and Topaz barked, as if he was agreeing with her.

"Yes yes!" Yang said, "There are even those rocks here for us to sit! As if somebody had arranged it for us!"

"We're gonna be cool and butt kicking huntresses in the future! Right Yang?"

Yang grinned and gave the girl a high five.

"Hey hey guys, we're all friends now right?" Ruby looked at the monochrome pair.

"Y…yes I guess." Weiss tried to maintain a poker face but evidently failed at it.

"Umm…if you don't mind?" Blake's voice was low.

"I mean, I don't have many friends." Ruby scratched her head; her action was so identical to Yang's it made Weiss chuckled a bit, "Not good at talking to strangers…but somehow, I feel comfortable talking to you all."

"Maybe we're best friends in another universe!" Yang laughed.

"It's rather easy to talk to you guys." Weiss smiled, "I can totally understand your point Ruby. I don't have many friends too."

"Actually…me too." Blake said, her voice shy, "I was always…running away and hiding alone away from my house when papa and mama fight. They fight all the time and I'm so scared to ask for help. I…I feel really happy when Weiss come to me in the cave just now."

"Hey, we could come here to play with each other from now on!" Yang pointed her index finger to the ground, "Let's make this cave our secret gathering place! You guys won't mind right?"

"Yeah! Yang and I can train to become huntress here too! Blake you can train with us! Let us become huntress together!" Ruby held Blake's hands.

"Hey, what about me? Are you guys going to ditch me?" Weiss pretended to be angry, crossing her arms and glaring at them.

"Oh I know Weiss, you can manage our…uh…what's the word for this…fi…finen…" Ruby released the black haired girl's hand and started scratching her chin trying hard to recall something. She then shot Yang a 'help me' look and the latter grinned.

"Uh oh, I know, you wanna say 'finance' isn't it?"

"Yes yes! I think Schnee will be good in managing money?"

"Indeed we are." Weiss said proudly.

"Well that settles it! We're gonna be best friends!" Yang pulled the group to her for a tight hug.

"I declare this place as our 'Secret Base' officially!" Ruby threw her left hand in the air and motioned her other hand. Yang was the first one to understand so she lifted her right hand too to touch Ruby's. The other two followed and soon all four hands were together in the air as Ruby shouted, "Best day ever!"

 **#**

 **I think it's ridiculous that the four of them become friends this fast. I personally don't have experiencing in dealing with kids but I heard that kids become friends like super fast?**

 **So, I've fulfilled my promise by giving you Blake and Rubes! Thank you for reading this and I do not own RWBY.**


	3. Chapter 3 - Yellow

**Chapter 2 was kind of rushed. And so as this chapter. But I wanna publish at least one story a day so…yeah, I'll try my best. I watched Ten Little Roosters recently and I was hell excited XD**

 **Also, a typo in chapter 2 author note the below part, I wrote 'experiencing' instead of 'experience'. I'm sorry! *Prryha's tone***

 **#**

 **Chapter 3: Yellow**

The third day was even more exciting for the heiress. She got out of bed the same time as yesterday eager to meet her new friends and the maid had to remind her three times to eat breakfast.

"Miss Schnee." A maid came into the dining room with a woman in formal clothes, "Miss Goodwitch is here."

Weiss almost smacked her forehead. How could she forget that it was Monday today and her private tutor would be coming over to home-school her?

 _I want to see them so badly…_

Although unwilling but Weiss knew she had to study to one day take over the company and hopefully her parents could spend more time with her. Plus, Ruby, Yang and Blake were probably in school too so she would be alone even if she went to Secret Base.

Her mind used Topaz as an excuse but she had shaken her head and snapped out of it. She had to study – and she shouldn't be distracted by anything at all. Blue orbs glowing in determination as she followed Miss Goodwitch up to the study room, both not saying anything.

The subjects that she had to study today were History of World Economies and Dust Studies. She breathed a sigh of relief as those two were actually her favorite subjects, especially Dust Studies. Schnee Dust Company, as the name said did Dust business, ranging from mining to modifying them into different resources for several purposes, mainly ammo for weapons. Aside from Dust the company also did logistics, fashion design and so on; basically all the large famous companies in Remnant were under SDC.

Yang was correct when she said that Weiss was a princess. Her company owned so many industries that they could basically rule Remnant already – but not that the government would let them do so. What the SDC owned was the world of business, not Remnant and the good residents of it.

"Miss Schnee?" Miss Goodwitch's voice had snapped her out of her chain of thoughts.

"Yes Miss Goodwitch?" Weiss asked. The woman simply eyed at the stack of papers in front of her.

It was the record of how the economy in Remnant evolved in the four kingdoms over the years. One would question why a ten year old child would be learning these, for it was supposed to be a middle school thing – but fear not, the Schnee family provided the best education and it was their motto to start learning difficult things in early ages to help develop higher intelligence.

For Weiss, all these studies were just piece of cake. She could handle them excellently.

"Miss Schnee?"

"Yes?" She looked at the strawberry-blonde haired woman.

"You seemed to be pretty…well, happier than usual." Glynda Goodwitch adjusted her glasses, "It might not be my business to pry, but did something happen? You seemed a lot…unable to concentrate fully on your task. But not that it's a bad thing."

Glynda had been tutoring her since she was five – in short, she watched the heiress grew up and she had never seen her smiled this much. Whatever happened was enough for the heiress to lose concentration during her study and this also had never happened before.

"I…uh…" The heiress squirmed, thinking if it was suitable to tell the woman. In the end she came up with the decision to do so; she probably saw her way more than her parents in her whole life. She didn't tell anyone this but deep down she had already considered the woman as her…well, another parent.

"I made some new friends." Weiss put down her pencil and turned to face Glynda, "When I was playing in the forest during last Saturday."

"I see." The woman smiled, "That certainly is a good thing."

"You think so?" The heiress frowned, "You're not going to question me about…wandering outside and meeting friends who aren't…from the same social status as me?"

"You know I don't care about social status Miss Schnee." Glynda said, "As long as you're happy, then why not? I believe you're capable of taking care of yourself."

"You trust me a lot." Weiss' expression relaxed and she smiled at the woman. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Just to let you know Miss Schnee, if you feel…like you need to be accompanied, you can just call me. You have my card, right?"

The heiress nodded.

"Alright, let's continue with our study. I look forward to the day you inherit the company."

Weiss knew this was Glynda's own way of encouragement so she took the pencil with her left hand, sapphire orbs once again shone in determination.

#

The first thing she felt when she woke up was someone licking her face.

And it was gross.

"Uh…" She groaned, "Topaz, stop!"

"Ruff!"

Slowly opening her eyes she saw a pair of puppy eyes looking at her.

"Okay okay I get it, I need to wake up and go to school now." She shooed the dog away and sat up from the old mattress.

Living in an abandoned house wasn't really comfortable for a ten year old child, but it was _way_ better than cramping in the same room with ten other children of your age. Thus, a year ago she had left the orphanage without permission to look for another shelter. Any place was better than that small room with rude kids throwing insults and smelly socks at each other.

So she packed everything and ran from the orphanage in the middle of the night. She didn't have any destination so she just decided to let the chips fall where they may.

Before she realized she was already in front of the entrance of Dragon Tears Forest.

And she was too tired to think properly from all the walking. Her feet moved on their own and brought her inside the forest. It was lucky for her that the moon shone extra bright during that night, making her path inside the thick forest easy.

It didn't take long before she saw an abandoned house. It looked extremely eerie on first sight but…well, Yang was _almost_ fearless.

"I'm just gonna sleep there for tonight." She mumbled and hoped that there wasn't any spider inside – she was dead afraid of them.

There was a golden ball of fur just outside the door. The house itself was pretty small; it looked like it could fit only two adults living together inside it.

And the ball of fur moved a bit when Yang got near it.

Alerted, she picked a stick to defend herself in case that ball of fur was some sort of aliens. She had the urge to poke it but ultimately decided against it; she didn't want to make it angry if it was indeed an alien.

The clouds then moved and the moonlight shone directly onto it, revealing its identity - it was a dog. Its body was bigger than Yang's and it could even kill her if it wanted to.

However, the dog's expression showed extreme agony – it was half dead already, and the blonde immediately knew the reason. Its dog collar apparently had strangled it, causing it to have difficulties in breathing. The owner must had abandoned it when it was still a puppy and as time went on it grew bigger and it didn't have the ability to take the collar off by itself.

Yang mentally cursed the former owner as she walked over and tried to help loosen the collar.

The dog instantly jumped and growled at her, eyes full of hurt and fear. It was extremely skinny although it was big and there were wounds everywhere on its body. Yang saw the genital and immediately knew that it was a male.

"It's okay boy, I'm here to help you." She whispered, trying to convince the creature that she was harmless.

The dog stopped growling and she took that as a good sign. Slowly she held out her hand towards the dog collar to help taking it off.

"Arf!" The dog barked and jumped towards her and he _bit_ her hand.

" _Shit!_ " Yang cursed but she just bore with the pain without taking any action. Instead, she forced a smile on her face as she used her left hand to touch the dog gently, "It's okay…it's okay buddy…I got'cha…"

The dog instantly realized his mistake as he stopped the biting and whined.

"I understand buddy…it must be hard for you to believe anyone after what you've gone through."

Yang swore she could see the dog crying.

"Okay, c'mere, I'll take that stupid collar off."

The dog obliged and it took Yang quite a while to get that damned collar off. It took all of her strength – and a sharp stone to destroy it.

"It feels pretty good right now isn't it buddy?" The blonde panted and wiped her forehead with her hand, only to make the situation worse.

"Oh man, it's bleeding non-stop." She muttered.

The dog licked the wound that he caused and his ears were flat against his head guiltily.

"Hey hey s'okay buddy, you were probably scared as hell just now. My fault too for scaring you."

It was pretty painful but Yang knew she could bear with it. She was tough – she had to be in order to become a successful huntress.

"Hey buddy, is this your former owner's house?" She asked while looking at the old house in front of her.

"Ruff." The dog barked, his voice broken likely due to not being able to breathe properly.

"Can I come in?" She asked politely.

The dog just walked to the front door slowly while wagging his tail and Yang took that as an approval, so she followed him and opened it, revealing the inside.

She couldn't see properly due to poor lighting but the first thing that she could make out was an old couch.

"Is the couch safe? I'm really sleepy now friend." The blonde asked.

The dog gave her answer by simply walking to it and settled down on the floor in front.

"I'll take that as a yes. There aren't any spiders here…right?"

The dog tilted his head.

"Okay, screw this, I'm just gonna sleep."

When she woke up the next day, her whole body felt like it wasn't hers. Her limbs were sore and there was a dull pain on her right hand.

And she had to use all her strength to just get up and sit on the couch.

Judging from the painful sunlight that was burning her skin now, it was almost noon. The dog yesterday was guarding her while she slept and she whispered a thank you to him in return.

Now that the lighting was better she got a good look at the inside of the old house and if she were to describe it in the shortest sentence possible – a total mess.

The couch was the only thing in perfect shape and there were debris and destroyed furniture everywhere. Lifting her head she could see the roof was kind of torn, likely by strong wind and there was a strong smell of dust and rotten leaves inside the house.

She felt something touching her shoulder and turned around in reflex; it was the dog.

"You hungry buddy?" She asked.

The dog whined and Yang immediately broke into a huge grin.

"Yeah me too. Don't tell anyone but I stole some food from the orphanage before I ran out."

With that, she took one of her bags (the orange one) and unzipped it, revealing several canned salmon and corned beef. The dog's eyes practically shone like a star and he drooled.

"Okay, be patient. Argh, but how do I open it?!" She blamed herself for forgetting to steal the can opener too.

The dog immediately stood up and went to the kitchen area. She followed only to find it having the same condition as the living room. The tables were wrecked and the cabinets were a mess too; there was a huge refrigerator lying on the floor with some suspicious bottles in it, the oven was in one piece but it was probably busted and lastly the stove looked like a giant Grimm had stepped on it.

She sighed and when she was about to head back, a metal clashing sound was heard near one of the wrecked table.

"Buddy?"

The dog then appeared behind the table with a dull knife in his mouth.

"Atta boy!" She shouted, "You're so smart friend!"

The blonde took the knife and began poking holes until she could access inside the can. She looked around for a container and managed to find some partially broken plates. She then poured the corned beef onto it and pushed it to the dog, giving him a wink. She also found a bowl and poured some water from her own bottle to let him drink.

While the dog was happily eating she began to open the canned salmon and devour it herself.

When both were satisfied with a full stomach, Yang had told the dog that she was going to live here and the dog happily wagged his tail as a sign of approval.

"It's an abandoned house anyway, right?" She said, patting the dog's head, "We can clean it up and live here together. We're family starting now, okay?"

"Ruff!" His bark was much more energetic than yesterday.

"Let's both start fresh! Can I name you buddy?"

"Ruff!"

"Alright, let's see…since yellow's my favorite color and you're a golden retriever…what about… 'yellow'?"

The dog whined.

"Yeah I know I suck with naming…can't help it I'm only ten and I don't know much words boy!"

"Arf!"

"Hold on…I know there's a type of beautiful gem that was yellow in color…what is it…" She covered her forehead with her hand and a pain struck her. Realizing it was the wound from yesterday she took a good look at it and man, it was _really_ bad. She probably needed a stitch.

The dog looked at her, brown eyes full of apologies. She just shook her head and stroked him on the head gently, "It's not your fault buddy. You're injured everywhere too, so it's fair isn't it?"

He licked her arm as an act of saying sorry to her.

"I think Imma go see the doctor. And I'm gonna bring you to see a doctor too." She said.

She had some savings from the Vale Social Benefit and although most of it was spent on the orphanage, she did have some amount of lien left just enough to visit a doctor. Now that she had decided to live alone outside she was probably going to need more money, but that could save for later. The important thing now was to get the dog properly treated.

"C'mon buddy, let's go see a vet."

The whole journey walking out of the forest was led by the dog; he was very familiar with this green maze and they took only a few minutes to get out of it.

"Okay, outside here is me leading." The blonde smirked.

She knew there was a vet just nearby the forest and the owner was a kind man. When they reached there it was empty and they were the only ones who needed a treatment so immediately they were brought into the vet's room.

"Hello little dragon." The man, Dr. Torchwick smiled. He knew her as her class visited this place before.

"Good mor- I mean, afternoon ." The blonde smiled, "Umm…do you think you can fix him?"

"Let me see." The man lifted the dog gently onto the table with soft padding, "A golden retriever huh. His wounds are quite bad. I take he was being abandoned since he was little and grew up with the collar restricting his breathing?"

Yang felt a rush of anger recalling the scene yesterday night – of how broken the dog was. She bit her lips and nodded.

"I see. Now…" Dr. Torchwick paused for a while, "May I ask for his name?"

"Oh!" Yang exclaimed, "I've totally forgotten about that!"

The man chuckled.

"Yeah doctor, do you know a kinda precious gem which is yellow in color?"

"Topaz you mean?"

"Yes!" Yang jumped, "Yes that, Topaz! Do you like this name buddy? It should be way better than 'yellow' right?"

"Ruff!"

"Alright!"

"Very well. Topaz, I'm going to fix you up and it's going to hurt a bit. Hang in there okay buddy?"

Topaz gave out a bark of acknowledgement.

After Dr. Torchwick had done with Topaz's treatment he stitched Yang's hand and helped her disinfected it. The girl then paid him but he refused to accept it; instead, she told Yang to keep it.

It turned out he knew about her running away from the orphanage. He said it was on the news and everybody was searching for her now.

"Okay listen here little dragon." The man knelt down so that he was at eye level with the blonde, "I know you don't like to be restricted from doing what you like. So I'm gonna adopt you alright?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Listen, if they found you, you'll be taken back to the orphanage. You can't live by yourself legally until you're at least sixteen so I'm gonna tell them I adopted you and get the paperwork done. You come with me and show them the proof. After we're done with that you're free to do whatever you want. You can come live in my house too but you'll have to manage the stuffs yourself. I'm sorry but I don't have enough earnings to support your education. Business is rather…down lately."

Yang considered his offer a little while before Topaz started making some whimper.

And she knew what the dog just said.

"Dr. Torchwick, I don't care what we have to do to get them to stop searching for me. As long as they stop that's it." A pause, "Why are you helping me?"

"I happened to...well...went through the same situation as you when I was a kid. So I understand you."

"Oh...but, I want to live with Topaz alone. Deal?"

"Okay." The man smiled, "No problem. Come, let's get the procedure done. I'll let my staff to take over the place for a while. It's not like there's any customers here anyway." He joked.

They left Topaz near the entrance of Dragon Tears Forest as they went to several places to get the adoption procedure done.

Evening approached as they were finished with the task and Yang was now officially Dr. Torchwick's adopted daughter. She thanked him and bid him goodbye before going back into the forest with Topaz; she planned to have a good rest tonight and would start cleaning out the house tomorrow.

Dr. Torchwick pulled out a cigar and lit it up while sitting in his car, looking at those blonde pigtails that were gradually disappearing as the girl walked deeper into the forest. He blew a puff of smoke before taking out his scroll, fingers moving rapidly on the screen.

"That's all I can do for you, Taiyang." He mumbled while looking at a blonde man's photo, "Your wife left her after you died. I knew you would want her to be a brave and independent person just like yourself."

A drop of tear rolled down from his eyes.

"She's doing good now. I'll continue to keep an eye on her without letting her know. Rest in peace, buddy."

 **#**

 **Thanks for reading again.**

 **Allow me to answer some of your questions here:**

 **Yes, Dr. Torchwick's full name is Roman Torchwick.**

 **And why does Roman wait until she ran out to adopt her? He didn't want her to know he was secretly looking after her. He knows Taiyang would want her to be independent and she has to learn to do it herself so she has to be left alone to deal with things – with secret support from an adult. And if he makes a move into the orphanage to adopt her Yang would definitely question and it'll be too suspicious. Yeah they were best buddy when Tai was still alive. Weird eh? But I can't find any other suitable male character to be fit into this character so I chose Roman. My initial thought was Dr. Oobleck but he appeared too much in my other stories and Roman's never appeared at all so...Dr. Torchwick is born!**

 **And lastly no Blake again. Don't worry, she'll come out in the next chapter.**

 **I definitely do not own RWBY.**


	4. Chapter 4 - Black, White and Red

**Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest~**

 **White is cold and always yearning, burdened by a royal test~**

 **Black the beast descends from shadows~**

 **Nope, no mention of the last line because last chapter was about her.**

 **Edit: I'm really sick for two days and my head is killing me atm. I'm really sorry if there's any mistake in this chapter. I've tried my best to check it but if there's any please let me know okay?**

 **#**

 **Chapter 4: Black, White and Red**

Blake hummed happy tunes when she was walking back home, recalling that two hyperactive girls who bounced everywhere inside the cave yelling something that she couldn't understand.

And Weiss.

She liked all of them but…something about Weiss was different. Like…she felt something towards her, something special that was different from how she liked both Ruby and Yang. But she didn't know what this feeling was, so she had decided to just ignore it.

Her mood went down like a waterfall the moment she opened the gate to her house. She heard muffled voices coming from the inside and she was certain that her parents were fighting again.

Luckily there wasn't any sound of things clashing – meaning they were just fighting verbally so Blake had opened the door and stepped inside.

"I told you, I didn't do it!" Came her father's voice yelling.

"I didn't either! Why are you always accusing me whenever something's wrong?!" Her mother shouted back.

"Blake was out the whole day and you were the only one in the house! If it wasn't you then who did it? A ghost? Some kind of invisible aliens? Or a spider? It's all because of your stupid actions that Blake ran out of the house this morning!" Her father slammed the table, causing the cup to fall onto the ground and shattered.

The sound had startled Blake as she gasped sharply and hands held tight to her chest. Her parents saw her and immediately apologized while walking to her, checking to see if she was alright.

"Blake honey, are you alright?" Her father said gently, "Did you get hurt?"

"No…" Blake bit her lips, "Papa, mama, please stop…I…I'm scared…"

"I'm sorry." Her mother said, "Things just got heated when we're talking. Sorry honey."

"Why do you…why do you always fight?" Blake sobbed, stubbornly refusing her parents when they tried to hug her.

They looked at each other before sighing; her mother went to clean up the mess on the floor while her father suggested going to the living room to watch TV together. Blake followed her father and both settled on the couch.

"Umm…" Her father searched everywhere for the remote control but couldn't find it so he went yelling at her mother again, "Beatrix, where the hell did you put the remote control?!"

The loud volume of course had scared the poor girl as she shifted away from her father quickly, hugging a black kitty pillow tight.

"It's in the freaking drawer!" She shouted while stomping towards them, opening the drawer violently and threw the remote control to her father, "Can you stop freaking yelling over _everything_?! This is why when we talk it _always_ turns into an argument!"

"Oh so it's my fault?!" Her father slammed the remote control on the couch and stood up in front of the woman, "As if you didn't shout. As if I'm the only one who does all the yelling and shouting!"

"Oh if it weren't for your stupid macho stuff thinking every woman on Remnant should listen to your orders like a dog I wouldn't have to shout back at you!"

"When the f- hell did I order you like a dog?!"

"When did you not?!"

Blake had the urge to run away again, like she always did.

And indeed she ran. When she saw her father started pointing at her mom with his index finger she knew it was going to turn bad. She knew they were about to throw things at each other again and she was scared. She clenched the pillow tight to her chest while running to her own room and slammed the door hard.

 _Why…why do they always fight?_

She used her pillow to cover her head in hope to block out all the noises coming from downstairs. She cried silently, remembering the past where they weren't like this.

The Belladonna family was happy when Blake was first born. Her parents were caring and gentle – until the day she turned five, the family business had gone down and her father was facing difficulties with loans and stuffs. The pressure was then brought back into the household.

At first it was some little arguments which often ended with an apologetic kiss.

Then the pressure started to accumulate and things got a little heated up. A few years later when her father started drinking, things immediately escalated to 'worse'. And they never want to divorce because they knew it'd be hard for Blake, whether it was the fact that she had go to into foster care when they were fighting in court for custody or that each of them would take turn to take care of her if they lived separately. Either one would definitely break the girl's heart so they came to a mutual agreement to not get divorced – they loved their daughter no matter how much they argued with one another.

Blake sometimes hated her father's family business. He ran a small shop selling carved goods from wood and it was being passed down through many generations of the Belladonna family. Her mother Beatrix had suggested many times for him to just give up that shop and do something more profitable as wood carving was pretty hard to get a lot of sales, but the man always shot her down by saying he couldn't let the business end at his generation.

That was the first issue that caused the arguments between them. Even until now her father was still stubbornly not willing to let go of the shop. Her mother had to work part time as a typist and a waitress at a cafe just to keep their stomach full.

Maybe she should really be like Ruby and Yang. Maybe she should become a huntress.

As Yang said the payment of a huntress was definitely higher than usual jobs and the huntsmen were the noblest warriors in the world whom people admired and respected. If she became a huntress, perhaps she could get money to let her father to continue running the shop and they would stop arguing with each other. She could make them proud and perhaps they would focus on her more instead of fighting one another.

She silently made her decision inside the dark room.

The next day she was woken up by a few gentle knocks on the door. Rubbing her eyes she sat up and the door opened, revealing her mother. The woman told her it was time to go to school and asked her to go brush her teeth and prepared everything before going downstairs for breakfast.

"I made tuna sandwich. Be quick alright honey? It's pretty late now." Beatrix said before closing the door, her black short hair moving out of Blake's sight.

Knowing the breakfast was her favorite food had made her mood better. Like, _way_ better than yesterday night.

As she brushed her teeth her mind had wandered to her new friends and she couldn't wait to meet them at Secret Base after school. Sure, she was afraid of dogs but Topaz seemed pretty friendly and he respected her a lot. Even a dog like him knew the boundaries – better than most humans on the planet who didn't know how to respect other people.

Blake studied in a normal government elementary school and it was pretty near to her house so she walked there everyday. As she got out of the gate after waving her mother goodbye, a cheerful voice was heard behind her and she turned around only to be attacked by a hug.

"Blake!" Ruby greeted, "Good morning!"

"G…good morning Ruby."

This was the first time Ruby had done this to her. They were neighbors for years but Ruby was too scared to have any physical contact with Blake because she thought the black haired girl hated it. She mostly just kept to herself and was always alone and Ruby didn't want to annoy her. They talked occasionally and Ruby knew about her condition but other than some simple chat they weren't that close to each other.

But after what happened yesterday, she knew Blake was just a timid girl who longed for love and protection.

"Listen Blake! I told mommy and daddy that they don't need to accompany me to go to school anymore!" Ruby released the hug and said.

"Why?" Blake frowned.

"No, it's not a bad thing. You see, I study in the combat school just near your school, so we can walk together from now on!" Ruby grinned.

Blake couldn't help but smiled too; the younger girl's grin was infectious.

"Then we can go to Secret Base together! Oh boy I can't wait for school to finish!"

"Me too." Blake replied shyly.

They started walking together towards Blake's school and had parted at the front gate when they reached their destination. Ruby promised to come pick her up after school and they could go home together and then to Secret Base.

Blake somehow hated the school but also at the same time she loved it. She hated it because there were many people inside and most of them didn't have manners – they were very rude and loud. She never got picked on but she saw bullying happening and she absolutely despised it.

But school was the only placed for her to escape from the incessant argument of her parents. Here she didn't have to be scared by witnessing the two people she loved the most hurling bad things at one another. The library here was nice too and there was a variety of books she could read.

Normally after school she would stay and read here but after yesterday's happy meeting at Secret Base she had decided she would instead borrow a book to carry with her wherever she went and read it when she was free.

The first period was physical education.

She _hated_ this subject.

First of all, physical education meant sweating and second of all, it meant she had to shower with the other girls together.

And she didn't like it.

Her usual plan was to simply toss the ball and pretended like she was tired then the teacher would allow her to sit at the side of the field to rest. As she tossed the ball to a tall girl she saw another group of people walking towards their P.E. teacher.

Blake knew that group of people; they were from Class B (judging from the color of the P.E shirt they were wearing) which was another building far from her class which was class C. Class B was specialized more on physical related subjects, meaning most periods in their schedule required the use of the field. However, as far as Blake could recall their periods never clashed and this was the first time Class B was with her class on the field.

She couldn't help but noticed something catching her eyes from that group of people who were now getting ready to run laps as they were stretching. Those golden pigtails were pretty obvious among the other students from the same class and the owner of it certainly had noticed Blake too as she was waving her hand, running towards her.

"Hiya Blake." Yang said as she approached, "Didn't know we were in the same school."

"Me neither." She said while slowly walking to the side of the field and the blonde following beside her.

"White shirt…you're from Class C?" Yang asked and the black haired girl nodded, "Well, that's far."

White…it reminded the both of them of someone.

They simultaneously blushed and had quickly said something together to cover it.

"Ahh…the weather sure is nice today!"

"Y…yeah…"

Silence.

"Uh well…I better go back before the teacher finds me. See ya in Secret Base later Blake!"

"Okay. Bye, Yang." She waved her hand as the blonde jogged back to join her classmates.

And she was left alone again, just like always.

#

It was about one in the afternoon and the school bell finally rang, children were eager to be released back to freedom – and so was a certain little girl.

Black hair danced with the wind as she made her way out of the school, taking an unusual path to avoid crowds. She hated crowds.

Before she reached the gate though, she accidentally bumped into a big tall boy. She quickly whispered sorry and wanted to get away from him as fast as possible, but a strong grip on her shoulder had stopped her from doing so.

"Hey, it's wrong to just walk away from people you just hit." The boy said.

Blake turned around and had to lift her head in order to meet the boy's eyes. He was really tall for an elementary student; he had orange hair and was wearing a red colored shirt along with a pair of sports pants.

"I'm really sorry…" She whispered; eyes shifting away from looking at him.

"Hey, aren't you that nerd who visits the library everyday?" The boy smirked, "You know, the one with _no_ friends."

Blake flinched and tried to move away but the boy had grabbed both her shoulders and his grips were firm.

"Hey, it's rude to ignore people you little bitch." The boy scowled.

"No…please let me go…I'm really sorry…" Blake said, trying hard not to cry; she didn't want to appear weak in front of a bully. She tried to look around but it seemed like no one had the will to save her – no one wanted to get on the nerve of a boy this big.

Just when she was about to give up, someone actually did come and helped her.

Two, actually, both coming from opposite directions.

One put her hand on Blake's shoulder and the other one on the boy's.

Annoyed, he turned around only to meet with a pair of lilac eyes.

"Hey friend, stop bein' an asshole will ya?" The blonde scowled.

"It's not nice to bully people." Ruby said, pulling Blake close to her while glaring at the boy who was about a feet taller than her, silver eyes fearless.

"What, you girls wanna pick a fight? Everyone knows Cardin - the best fighter in school." He crossed his arms and smiled in confidence, "If you don't want me to beat you up, I suggest you apologize, now."

Both Ruby and Yang laughed loudly upon hearing that statement. Blake was extremely panic and started pulling Ruby's hand, signaling her to run. However the younger girl just shook her head and turned to face the boy who was about to explode judging from his tomato red face.

"Well." The blonde shrugged, "That little red over there could probably take you by herself."

"Oh really? Why don't you try huh? I'm gonna beat your ass for being so cocky you bitches." Cardin said, posing a battle stance with both his arms in front of his chest like a boxer.

To answer him Ruby simply unzipped her bag and took a red object out. She pressed a button and the object transformed into a red-colored scythe – a mini sized one to match her own height. Both were small but _deadly_.

"Just so you know, that little girl you just called a bitch over there," Yang motioned her head, "Is attending a combat school."

"So?" Cardin tried to remain calm but he was obviously shaking.

"So, if I were you, I don't wanna mess with her." Yang shot Ruby a grin and the latter smirked back.

"You…you crazy bitches!" He shouted while taking off towards the school gate, "I will remember this! Watch your bac-"

He bumped into something and fell backwards onto the ground. He regained his balance and stood up, trying to scold whoever was in his way. However his voice was stuck in his throat when he saw a giant man standing in front of him with a little girl beside him.

The girl motioned her hand and the man stepped backwards, leaving the girl to face the bully.

"I saw everything." The girl said with a flat voice while crossing her arms.

Ruby, Blake and Yang had chased after him and all came to a halt looking at the newcomer.

"So what?" Cardin hissed.

"So, if you dare to do anything to hurt them to get your silly revenge, I will make sure to send you back to your mommy in teeny, tiny pieces."

"Oho, who do you think you are? Threatening me like that? You think I'll be scared of you? Have you ever heard of the Winchester family little girl?" Cardin said, obviously looking down on this short girl in front of her – he was pretty sure that she wasn't from a combat school like that girl in red hood back there.

Well at least she didn't carry a scythe with her.

"Winchester family?" The girl questioned.

"Yeah! My full name is Cardin Winchester and my family owned a famous weapon store! So don't freaking piss me off!" The bully shouted as his eyes moved around all of them.

"Oh I know, Winchester Armory?" The girl taunted.

"This ought to be good." Yang whispered to Ruby, both grinning secretly while Blake was just stunned there looking at the situation. She couldn't quite process what was going on.

"Hell yes. I owned a mace that's also a gun. I just didn't bring it with me today. If I had it, then you," He pointed at Ruby, "Won't even touch me. You'll just get your ass beaten up."

Ruby just folded back her scythe and put it back into her bag while looking at Yang, both amused that the boy didn't know what he just got himself into.

"And who does the Winchester family worked for?" The girl asked, her tone still flat.

"We worked for no…one…" He slowed down, "Wait, are you…"

"Yes." The girl tilted her head with an annoyed look on her face, "I'm your future boss. I can just make a phone call and your family's business will go down faster than a jet. I can also make sure your family _never_ get any job anywhere in Remnant from now on. You don't want to starve to death, don't you?"

Cardin's face turned to horror as he began running away from the gang, mumbling something inaudible to the girls.

"Weiss!" Ruby shouted, "You're in the same school with Blake?"

"No." Weiss smiled, "I let George investigate which school you guys are studying at and I plan to come pick you up to the forest by our car."

The giant man, George stepped aside and revealed a fancy limo behind him, gaining a mixture of surprised gasps and awe from the three girls.

"Then I saw that Winchester started picking up on Blake." She turned to Blake and the latter nodded, silently telling them she was alright. Weiss smiled back, "Well, before I managed to get to him, you guys had already…saved Blake."

They all turned to Blake simultaneously and Ruby was the first one to hug her. Everyone then shared a big group hug.

"Y'know Blake, you can rely on us." Yang said.

"Yeah! We'll protect you Blake!" Ruby exclaimed.

Blake just smiled at them and thanked them. George then suggested sending them back to their house respectively to eat before heading to Dragon Tears Forest in which all of them happily agreed.

When they were walking towards the limo, Weiss had held Blake's hand and whispered to her.

"It's okay, we're friends."

 **#**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **I hate Cardin. I definitely hate him.**

 **And I've always wanted a scene where Weiss threatens people using her family power – and ended up being successful.**

 **Who dares to defy a Schnee?!**

 **Anyway, last chapter was a lot about Yang and although I wanted this chapter to focus on Blake, it didn't work out well. I initially wanted to focus more on her uh…life before meeting the three of them but there wasn't much to write. So instead I put this little incident where the three of them protecting the vulnerable Blakey and deepening their friendship.**

 **Also, I do not own RWBY.**

 **Lastly, I freaking love RWBY.**


	5. Chapter 5 - Sticky Semblance

**Time to pace this story up a little.**

 **#**

 **Chapter 5: Sticky semblance**

"I'm back!" Ruby's voice was heard as soon as the door was opened.

"Welcome back sweetie." Her mother greeted from the kitchen.

"Mommy!" Little red ran to her in eye-blinking speed upon smelling something familiar, "Cookie!"

Summer Rose just smiled and packed up the cookies in a jar, saying that it was for dessert.

"You have to eat proper meal to grow honey." The woman motioned her head towards the dining table.

"Uh…then I'll finish the food fast so that I can eat cookies!" She hummed, "Also, mommy?"

"Yes Ruby?"

"I'm uh…going to hang out with my friends later." Ruby said shyly, her cheeks slightly turned red.

"Wow, you made friends." A deep voice was heard near the door.

"What do you mean by that daddy!" Ruby pouted.

"Well, seeing you as the socially awkward…" The man smirked, "Didn't expect you'd actually make friends. I see an 's', it means you've made more than one."

"Qrow! Stop mocking her!" Summer threw him a fake glare.

Qrow just laughed and walked to his daughter, putting his arm around her neck and ruffled her hair, "That's good Ruby. You need to learn how to deal with people if you wanna become a huntress."

"They're all good people daddy!" Ruby struggled out of her father's death grip, "It's Blake our neighbor and Yang who's like a big sister! Weiss too she's such a sweetheart! Also, I don't need people to help me grow up, I, drink, milk!"

"Oh, our little weapon dork's made three friends by herself!" Qrow laughed.

"Qrow…" Summer karate-chopped his head, "That's enough."

"Ouch…" He faked pain and lifted his daughter up and put her on the chair, "Now eat well kiddo."

#

Her parents were still at work. They often traveled around Remnant to survey their business and even if they were back in Vale they wouldn't be staying in their house much. Atlas was the place they went to the most often since the headquarter of the Schnee Dust Company was there; they had thought of moving to Atlas so that they didn't have to travel much but they knew the air and the environment in that high-tech city weren't good for growing children.

Vale on other hand was a nice place; not too advanced but enough to make the life of the people there easy. There were still thick forests here – the only thing one couldn't find in Atlas. They had decided they would let Weiss lived here until she was old enough to take over the company.

Her elder sister Winter showed no interest at all in inheriting SDC and instead she joined the military in Atlas. Her parents allowed her to do whatever she wanted to for that they loved their daughters very much. Weiss volunteered to take over the company and vowed to keep it going as she didn't want the company that her grandfather started to end at her generation.

George waited for her when she ate lunch which consisted of just a bowl of salad and some fruits – simple and healthy for a growing child like her. But perhaps many years later she would regret this decision, because she couldn't grow taller due to the lack of protein.

Not that she cared now.

"I'm done eating." She wiped her mouth and politely thanked the maid for preparing the meal, then walked out to her driver, "Let's go."

"Yes Miss Schnee." George smiled and they both got in the limo ready to go to Dragon Tears Forest.

#

Blake was relieved when she arrived at her home. Her father was out in the shop so at least she didn't have to worry about them fighting over small stuff again; both of them were actually really nice parent – as long as they don't argue that was.

Beatrix prepared baked salmon for the girl and she thanked her mother by giving her a kiss on the cheek. The woman smiled and asked if she had any plans after lunch.

"I…uh…I'm going out with my friends." She answered shyly.

"I see." Beatrix smiled, "The neighbor girl who studied in a combat school?"

"Her name is Ruby." Blake smiled too, recalling her friends, "And there's Yang. She studies in the same school as me."

And Weiss.

Her heart bounced a little faster than usual whenever she recalled that white-haired girl. After giving it some thought she had come to a conclusion that it was because she saw Weiss as her best friend.

She was the first person to approach her when she was really upset – although technically it was Ruby but Blake had never felt that kind of strong emotion when she was around the younger girl.

Perhaps…she would understand it when she grew older.

"I see." Beatrix raised her eyebrow, "I bet there's one more friend isn't it."

Blake blushed and her mouth kept opening and closing as if she wanted to say something but was too afraid to say it.

"It's so easy to read you my dear." Beatrix said smugly, "So who's this third friend?"

"Uh…it's…Weiss." The girl mumbled in a low voice but her mother had caught it.

"Weiss?" The woman gasped in shock, "Weiss…Schnee of the…Schee Dust Company? The heiress?"

Blake nodded timidly.

"Wow Blake, I didn't know you were so good in choosing friends. That girl's rich as hell." Her mother put her chin on her palm, looking at her daughter with a smirk on her face.

"I…I'm not befriending her because she's rich!" Blake protested, "It's because I like her!"

"Oho~"

"Mama!"

"It's hard to see you liking another people. You guys must be really close friend eh?" Beatrix chuckled, "I'm just messing with you. It's good that you've made new friends Blake. I mean it."

Blake pouted and proceeded to stuff all the salmon into her mouth, took a bottle of water and a towel, stuffed it in her favorite black kitty bag and stomped out of the house.

Beatrix giggled and was genuinely happy for her daughter.

"Blake's grown up…" She said while closing her eyes, "Mama's so sorry for not providing you a peaceful environment to grow up honey."

#

When Yang got down from Weiss' fancy car, Topaz was sitting at the other entrance to Dragon Tears Forest, silently waiting for her.

"Ruff!" He barked at the driver and Yang quickly explained that he was thanking the man for driving her home.

"It's alright miss, I understand." George smiled, "I had a dog too."

"Ah I see." Yang smiled, "Glad you do! Thanks for driving me here mister!"

"My pleasure."

Weiss waved to her and the car took off then disappearing over a corner. Yang sighed and turned to Topaz who was looking at her while tilting his head.

"Yeah yeah, she's cute alright." She shrugged and walked into the forest.

"Ruff." Topaz barked as he followed her at the back.

The journey from the entrance to her house wasn't far; in fact it just took ten minutes for her to reach her home.

The abandoned house looked extremely old from the outside but Yang had asked for Dr. Torchwick's help to clean it and take old furniture that people dumped to decorate it so that it looked more like a house from the inside.

There was a rule in Vale; any large garbage, for instant furniture like old couch or a table would be charged extra fees from people who threw them away. Therefore many of the citizens who wanted to get rid of these 'expensive' garbage would just line them up in front of their house with a 'dump' sign for the needy to take it to their use. Both party benefited from this system; giver didn't have to pay extra to the government and taker didn't have to waste money to buy a new one when most of the 'dump' furniture was still in good shape. Plus, it would help save the environment by not wasting valuable resources when one could reuse things. It was a win-win situation.

Yang requested for Dr. Torchwick's help to move some furniture she found on the street to her house. The man had gifted her a mattress to make her more comfortable in her sleep and Yang was whole heartedly thankful to him.

"Alright, let's eat." The blonde threw her bag on the couch and walked to the kitchen, searching for suitable canned food.

The money from Vale Social Benefit wasn't really a lot so she didn't have much choice in food; she didn't have a refrigerator too to store fresh food. In fact her house didn't even have electricity – she used fire dust to cook food and light the lanterns up to see in the dark.

She found a lunch box near the table and remembered it was discounted so she had bought it from the convenient store two days ago.

"Let's have lunch box today Topaz." Yang grinned and the dog barked back.

#

Blake went to Ruby's front yard to stay with the younger girl while waiting for Weiss' driver to come pick them up. Ruby took her into her house to greet her parents and Summer had offered Blake a cookie which she happily accepted and thanked the woman. They knew each other but this was the first time they had ever talked – and Blake was surprised that two legendary huntsmen in Remnant with deadly skills and weapons were actually very nice people.

She had imagined them being super serious, like a Spartan but they were the exact opposite of it. Summer was a super mom – baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters, according to Ruby while Qrow was a laid-back type and Blake had mentally compared the man to Yang; those two were really alike if you thought about it. Loud, outgoing and nonchalant – the only difference being Qrow was much cooler than the blonde.

They heard a honk coming outside and after saying goodbye to Ruby's parents they had gone out. Weiss opened the door for them and both got in while greeting the driver.

"We can go now." Weiss said.

"Aye Miss Schnee." George answered and had driven towards a particular direction.

When they reached the entrance of Dragon Tears Forest they saw a familiar blonde and her dog looking at them with expecting eyes. Ruby was the first to rush out of the car and hug the dog while shouting his name, the latter gratefully barked once to greet her.

"Oh you're so cute!" Ruby nuzzled against his cheek.

Blake was hiding behind Weiss when they got down from the car; no matter how hard she tried to convince herself that Topaz was harmless she just couldn't face the dog. And Weiss was surprisingly understanding as she led the shaking girl slowly down the car, not letting go of her hand even for a second.

They thanked George for the last time and waved him goodbye before he drove off, leaving them at the entrance. Ruby then raised her hand and shouted, "To Secret Base!"

"Yeah!" Yang mimicked her and grinned, "Lead the way, Topaz!"

"Ruff!"

Ruby and Topaz were leading the gang through the forest and the journey was longer than they had expected.

"Oh oh I recognize this!" The younger girl happily shouted when they walked pass a huge tree, "This is where I tripped when I was looking for Blake yesterday!"

"That's why you were covered in leaves when you reached here yesterday?" Weiss asked.

"Well yeah…hehe…I was too busy chasing after Blake I didn't pay attention to the surrounding…" Ruby smiled sheepishly while scratching her head.

"Why didn't you tell us you dolt!" Weiss shouted, "You didn't hurt yourself did you?"

"Just a scratch!" Ruby grinned, "Really, it's no big deal Weiss. I'm a huntress, I can take care of myself!"

"You're just eight year old! You're not a huntress! Did you get proper treatment when you got back home?" The heiress huffed.

"C'mon, Weiss! I'm sure Rubes can take care of herself!" Yang put both her hands behind her head and said.

"I'm sorry Ruby." Blake looked down guiltily; Ruby tripped and fell because she was chasing after her. She blamed herself for letting the younger girl got hurt.

"It's okay Blake!" Ruby stopped suddenly, causing a domino effect – Yang bumping into Blake who was in front of her, Blake herself bumping into Weiss and lastly Weiss who just managed to hold still before bumping into Ruby.

"Ruby!" The three girls shouted at once.

"Sorry…" She scratched her chin, "I just wanna show you guys my leg."

"Your leg?" Blake asked after rebalancing herself – as well as maintaining to be calm. She might have…inhaled Weiss' shampoo when she bumped into the white haired girl just now. It was a mixture of aloe vera, rosemary and mint and it was a pleasant smell.

"Yeah!" Ruby said as she lifted her right leg at a small angle. She didn't want to flash any of the girls her panties as she was wearing a black colored mini skirt with red frill and a rose-like pattern which was her emblem.

"What do you want to show us? There's nothing on your leg." Yang said as she bent down to inspect Ruby's leg. Not even a single scratch was there.

"Exactly!" She said as she put down her leg and crossed her arms while smiling proudly, "I've healed it with my aura!"

"Aura?" Blake asked.

"Yeah!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Do you know what is 'aura'?" Weiss asked and Blake shook her head.

"Aura is the manifestation of our soul." The heiress answered, "It bears our burden and shields our heart. It can deflect harm and protect our body from any potential injury. Apparently you can sense threat using it too. Aura can also heal minor injury."

"It's like a force field." Ruby added.

"Wow, your aura is already unlocked!" Yang looked at the younger girl, "You're just eight! Looks like combat school students aren't for nothing…"

"They have us practice to unlock it once we started to enroll in the school." Ruby said, "And thanks to daddy's help I've unlock it a little bit earlier than other people…"

"Aww don't be so humble!" Yang slapped the girl's back, "People normally get their aura unlocked at the age of ten. Two years aren't 'a little bit' Rubes!"

Ruby just blushed, "Ehehe…but, how did you know about that Yang? You're…studying in a normal school?"

"I did my research." The blonde shrugged, "Wanted to go to a combat school too but…no money. Meh."

"Oh…" Ruby looked at the other two who didn't say anything, silently pleading for help as she didn't know how to continue this conversation without offending Yang.

"W…well." Weiss said, "Let's go."

"Yeah." Blake answered.

"Sure~" Yang said, "Ladies first."

Ruby and Topaz had continued leading the gang to Secret Base and a few minutes later they had finally reached their destination.

"We're back!" The younger girl shouted as she burst into a blur of rose petals running into the cave, Topaz following behind her.

"Wow, a semblance!" Yang shouted.

"Oh no…" Ruby stopped just at the entrance of the cave. She wanted to keep her semblance a secret but was _too_ excited that she had used it subconsciously.

"Semblance?" Blake asked.

"It's a higher form of controlling your aura." Weiss answered as she walked towards Secret Base with Blake following behind her, "Everyone's semblance is different. Hers apparently…is super speed."

They all turned to the blonde who was still a distance away from them.

"Yang! Come hereeeee!" Ruby shouted while waving her hand.

"Nope." Yang whispered to herself, "Definitely not jealous because she's discovered her semblance…at the age of eight."

She shook her head and smiled, waving her hand back as she made her way to the gang.

However, she stepped on her toes and tripped.

"Yang!" The girls shouted in unison as they ran to the blonde, the dog following closely behind them.

"Yang are you okay?" Ruby asked.

Nope, Yang wasn't okay. Her reflex was fast enough to not let her face directly hit the ground but her hands were bruised from the impact. She got up and turned around, revealing her knees which were injured. Blood was starting to drip from the wound as she closed her eyes and clenched her teeth, cursing herself for wearing short pants today.

"Yang, does it hurt?" Weiss asked and Blake frowned.

"Nah, just a scratch." She waved her hands and immediately her wounds began to heal.

"Oh Yang, your aura's already unlocked!" Ruby exclaimed, "Why didn't you say so earlier?!"

"Nah…I haven't really fully mastered it yet." She said, eyes still closing. She had a really strange sensation in her body now and she couldn't explain what was it; she just hoped to ignore it but the sensation was quick to spread through her whole body and she felt powerful – as if she had so much energy in her body that was ready to burst out.

"Yeah I guessed so." Ruby said while gently touching the healed wounds, "I'm the same too. If we've mastered it it would've activated the time we fell and we won't get hurt."

"Yeah…" Yang said, finally given up and opening her eyes.

The three girls were shocked and Weiss had fallen backwards on the ground.

"Guys?" She said, "What's wrong?"

"Y…Yang!" Ruby said, "Your…your eyes!"

"My eyes?" She turned to Blake who was still kneeling beside Weiss.

"They're…red…" The black haired girl said.

"What? My eyes are purple guys!" Yang huffed.

"No, it's real." Weiss said, recovering from her shock. She had taken a small mirror with a Schnee logo on the back from her pocket and handed it to Yang.

Curious, she took the mirror and looked at herself – still the same face but the eyes were a burning crimson. She gasped and blinked a few times, closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them and no matter what she did it was the same. Her eyes were still red.

"What…what is this?" She turned to Ruby, then Weiss and lastly Blake.

"I…I don't know too Yang." Weiss answered.

"Maybe it's…your… _yes!_ " Ruby squeaked, "Oh Dust Yang it's your semblance!"

"My semblance?" Yang questioned.

"Yeah!"

"But…what's it do?"

"I…I don't know." Ruby shook her head, "How are you feeling now? Normally if you're using your semblance you'll have this strange sensation surrounding your body. Like when I run really really fast there'll be a feeling surrounding me…like a force field or something like that."

"I feel really powerful now." She said, "Like there's so much extra energy within me that…that's ready to come bursting out of me."

"Maybe try releasing it. It might help." The heiress said.

"How?"

"Don't ask me," Weiss crossed her arms, "How am I supposed to know how you release stress?"

"Release stress…oh!" Yang stood up and looked at Topaz, "Go get a stick boy!"

"Ruff!" The energetic dog barked and took off into the wood.

A few moments later he came back holding a _huge_ stick in his mouth. He hopped to Yang and put it down in front of her while wagging his tail.

"Good job Topaz! You ready?"

"Ruff!"

"Here we go!" She took up the stick and it was surprisingly lighter than usual. She shook her head and grabbed it behind her head, getting ready for a powerful throw.

It was the way she used to release stress; although she preferred punching things, she was too poor to afford a pair of punching gloves or to go to the gym. And government gym which was cheaper compared to usual gyms had poor equipment and smelly gloves. When she was in school she did a lot of physical exercise as she was from Class B so most of her energy was used up but sometimes when she felt _really_ angry she'd have extra energy and it had to be released out.

That was when she started to play fetch with Topaz. Throwing a stick didn't require money and she could release all the anger within her because although it looked simple, throwing a stick to a far place required a lot of physical power; especially if you were doing it more than once.

She grabbed the stick tighter before throwing it towards the opposite side of the cave – that area had no trees so it would be easier for Topaz to locate the stick.

However as her grip tightened she heard the sound of 'pop' and when she turned around she saw that huge stick was already being split into half.

"Wow." Ruby exclaimed, "You smashed that stick into half!"

"What?" Yang turned to the girl.

"Oh I have an idea." Weiss smirked, "Come here Yang."

Yang tilted her head but obliged anyway.

"Is your aura activated at the moment?" She asked.

"Wait." Yang focused for a while and there was a faint glow covering her skin shortly after that, "Okay now. What do you wan-"

She was cut off when the heiress landed a punch in her stomach.

It wasn't a powerful punch as the blonde wasn't affected much by it; her expressions showed shock instead of pain.

And when Weiss punched her she had that sensation again and this time it spread much faster throughout her body compared to the time she fell. She felt really hot – and powerful and she was eager to release that built up energy within her.

She flashed Weiss a smirk and picked up the longer half of that huge stick she'd broken.

"Watch." She said as she gripped it with her right hand, "Okay…here we go."

This time she used a smaller force compared to the last time and the stick was literally _smashed._

"So your semblance is something like when you get hit you build up energy and you hit back harder, and your eyes turn red as a side effect. Something like Ruby's rose petals." Weiss smirked, proud of her intelligence.

"Yeah! Wow Yang, that's a really powerful semblance!" Ruby exclaimed, "Just wow!"

"Wow…" Even Blake was in awe.

Yang was about to say something when she had a strange feeling in her palm – the one that she used to smash the stick to demonstrate her semblance. It was rather…sticky, like there was some kind of liquid on it.

"Ewwww!" Ruby was the first to notice the blonde's palm, "What's that white colored liquid?"

"It's tree sap I guess." Weiss answered.

"The stick that Topaz brought back had tree sap in it." Blake said, her voice low.

"This is so…" Yang paused a while before a sly grin was seen on her face, " _Stick-y._ "

"Yang-"

 **#**

 **That stupid pun in the end!**

 **Was this considered as pacing up? They discovered Yang's semblance!**

 **Kudos to you if you know the reference I use of Yang's way to discover her semblance~**

 **I need to build up their friendship before the main event happens so yeah, it's really gonna be a slow pace.**

 **I rushed this chapter today when I felt better that my eyeballs weren't exploding and my head wasn't killing me anymore. Hopefully it'll make up!**


	6. Chapter 6 - Formation

**Still slow, still slow.**

 **If you like my fic and want to support me, you can head over to my profile to read my notes under the tag 'Announcements'. It's too long to insert the whole paragraph here. In short, you can donate to me to help me raise money for university use!**

 **I do not own RWBY.**

 **#**

 **Chapter 6: Formation**

After getting rid of the sticky tree sap on Yang's palm, the girls proceeded to have a 'meeting' (according to Ruby) in Secret Base to discuss their plan for today.

Currently, Ruby was standing in front of the other three girls who were sitting on the rocks with a certain golden retriever beside her. She was still carrying that backpack she used to store her scythe and according to her she was supposed to carry the weapon behind her waist when she got her own personal combat attire.

"So! What do we do today my fellow huntresses?" Ruby said, her chin and chest held high.

"Reporting for duty Sergeant Rose!" Yang stood up and saluted the younger girl, "My teammates and I had cleared out sector twelve and it's free of Grimm now!"

"Good job Officer Xiao Long! Seeing as you are back now, why don't we make new plans to evacuate the people from other sectors?"

"Aye sir!" Yang shouted.

Blake giggled at their dramatic act while Weiss just shook her head and sighed.

"What are your opinions Officer Belladonna and Officer Schnee?" Ruby turned to the monochrome pair.

"I…I don't know." Blake got nervous when everyone in the cave, even Topaz was looking at her.

"Very well. What about you Officer Schnee?" Ruby turned to the heiress.

"Officer Schnee would like to know what type of game normal children play with their friends." Weiss answered.

"Oho, princess' always alone in the castle eh…" Yang wiggled her eyebrows.

Weiss' face turned red as she turned to the side and huffed, "W…what can you expect? I'm home schooled and I don't have any chance to live a…playful childhood with…with my friends…"

"You have friends other than us?" The blonde teased.

"Yang!" Ruby shouted, "Stop teasing her!"

"Alright alright. Sorry princess, shouldn't have done that." Yang turned to the girl only to see her clenching her fist tight, blue orbs watery as she squeezed out a heartbreaking sentence.

"All this time…people only…care about my last name…I…I don't have…many friends…I was…happy because…when I tell you that I'm a Schnee…you didn't abandon me or flatter me or…or befriend me because of my fortune…"

Yang felt a sting in her chest as she saw the heiress crying. Other than guilt she felt something else…something that she wasn't able to make out. She had an urge to hug the fragile girl tight and kiss her and mumble things in her ears to make her smile. She wanted to make her happy.

"W…Weiss?" Blake looked at the heiress.

"Sorry." After wiping her tears Weiss had quickly regained her usual posture, "I…Sorry for the…well, breakdown just now. It will never happen again."

"It's okay Weiss." Ruby knelt down in front of her and held her hands, "You can tell us if you feel lonely. That's what friends are for!"

"Y…yes Weiss!" Blake joined them, "You saved me just now! It's only fair if I…if I return the favor! As a friend!"

"Thank you." The heiress smiled.

Yang was still blaming herself for making the heiress cry. She didn't say a word and was sitting there staring at the floor. The girls eyed each other and in the end it was Topaz who had snapped her out of it.

The dog went and nuzzled his nose on her knees and licked them.

"Topaz?" She said.

"Ruff." Topaz barked.

The blonde then followed Topaz's eyes and it had led her to the heiress'.

"Weiss…" She said, her voice lack of the usual energy in it, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine Yang." Weiss stood up and walked to her, "It's fine. I know you don't mean it."

"Weiss…"

"A…alright!" Ruby shouted, attempting to break the awkward atmosphere, "Let's play a game!"

"Ruff!" Topaz barked to support her.

"The number one game that children like us plays!" She raised her hand, "Hide and seek!"

"Ruff ruff!"

"Come on Weiss, we'll show you how it is done!" Ruby burst into rose petals and got to Weiss, holding her hand tight, "Let's go outside!"

"Ruby?" Came Blake's shy voice.

"Yes Blake?"

"I…I have no idea how to play this game." Blake said.

Aside from hiding in her own room trying to avoid hearing her parents arguing, the black haired girl spent most of her time reading in the library. Her shy nature didn't help a lot and she always kept to herself in class. Cardin was right, she had no friends at all; she had totally no experience in playing with kids around her age.

"It's easy!" Ruby said cheerfully, "It's as the name suggests! Three of us hide and one has to go and seek us out!"

"Who is going to be the seeker?" Weiss asked.

"Umm…maybe I can become the seeker for the first round?" Ruby said, "Let you all get used to it first! After that we can take turn, what do you say?"

"Alright."

"Blake?"

The girl nodded.

"Yang?"

"I uh…"

"Hush." Weiss moved a bit and Ruby released her hand. She then walked to Yang who was still blaming herself for those playful words she said that had hurt the heiress, "Stop blaming yourself. Come, let's go."

"But…"

"Come, on." The heiress held her hand, dragging the taller girl to join the rest of the gang, "You have to make up to me by playing this game."

"What?"

"Yeah that's a great idea Yang." Ruby smiled sheepishly.

They left Ruby inside Secret Base with Topaz guarding her so that she wouldn't cheat; she was facing the cave wall at the most inner part while counting to thirty and once she had finished counting she could start searching for people. They had made an agreement to not hide too far away from Secret Base to avoid potential accidents.

"…Twenty-nine, thirty!" Ruby shouted and turned around.

When she walked out of the cave it was very quiet; as if no one had ever been to this place before. In fact it was so silent that she had started to be a little bit scared and she was thankful to have Topaz by her side.

She unzipped her backpack and took out her weapon – which she named Crescent Rose and unfolded it to its scythe form. She always felt safer holding her weapon; it was technically her first friend and also her best friend in life. She valued her very much and yes, in Ruby's mind Crescent Rose was a beautiful maiden.

"Alright…let's do this…" She said as she held the scythe, slowly making her way into the opening of the forest with a Topaz behind her.

It was quiet and the only sound she could hear was her own footsteps and the rustling of the dry leaves on the ground. Occasionally there would be birds chirping and the sound of wings flapping but other than dead it was dead silent. She had to constantly make sure that Topaz was behind her because the dog didn't make any sound when he was walking.

"Okay…where would they hide…where would they hide…" She mumbled and had spotted a big stone which was located in the middle of two trees.

What was ironic was that she could see a little bit of white through a crack between the tree and the stone.

Slowly she made her way to the stone and indeed a certain heiress was hiding behind it.

"White!" She shouted as she dashed to Weiss, startling the latter.

"Ruby! Don't scare people like that!" The heiress shouted.

"Ehehe…sorry."

Weiss shook her head and sighed, "I guess having white hair and white dress don't really help in hiding in a forest."

"It will! When we play hide and seek during winter it'll be so hard to find you!"

"Indeed." The heiress smiled.

"Alright, now I need to find Blake and Yang!" Ruby smiled, gaining a bit of confident with the heiress around her.

Weiss made sure to hug Topaz before the three made their way around the forest trying to look for the two members of the gang.

And those two were either really lucky or really skilled in hiding because after around twenty minutes of searching, Ruby still couldn't find them. Frustrated, she had decided to use her aura to cheat a little bit. Not that Weiss would notice, right?

As Weiss had explained just now, aura could help detect threat but at the same time it could also detect living things around the searcher. Meaning, as Ruby focused more on using her aura it would act like a radar surrounding her, detecting anything around her that couldn't be seen with eyes.

Ruby could only do this when she was extremely focused; unlike her parents who could do that without even trying. And she trusted that one day she would be as skilled as them.

"Ruby, stop cheating." Weiss huffed, "Is that how you found me?"

Little red's focus was interrupted and she turned to the heiress in shock, "You…how did you know?"

Only a person who possessed aura could detect when Ruby tried to use that certain feature of aura – meaning Weiss had unlocked her aura too.

"The fact that I didn't brag didn't mean I haven't unlocked my aura." Weiss said, her tone flat.

"Oh…hehe, sorry. I thought you wouldn't know so I tried to cheat a little…"

Weiss raised her eyebrow.

"But no that wasn't how I found you. I saw white thing behind the rock through the crack…"

Weiss mouthed an 'oh'.

"I…I won't cheat anymore. But I can't find them…it's been so long!" Ruby stabbed Crescent Rose into the ground with force.

"You can just give up Ruby."

"No!" Ruby exclaimed, silver eyes shining in determination, "A Rose will never give up!"

Weiss just shrugged but couldn't hide that smile on her face.

Both had searched for another few minutes before Ruby suggesting to return to Secret Base. They couldn't believe the black and the yellow were so good in hiding – they couldn't have gone too far because without the help of Topaz they would be lost, but both Weiss and her had searched the surrounding area for so many times.

"Just where did they go…" Ruby folded back Crescent Rose and put it inside her backpack.

"Do you think it's possible that something happened to them?" Weiss frowned.

"Yeah, it's possible." Ruby's expression became serious, "We have to look for them."

Weiss nodded and both of them started expanding their aura to detect things – and they really did detect something. There was someone behind those huge rocks just beside the lake.

Ruby had once again burst into rose petals as she made her way to the back of the rock and to her surprise Blake was there.

"That's why we couldn't find you in the forest! You're here all along!"

"Y…yeah." Blake said, "I'm sorry."

"Eh no no it's not your fault." Ruby grinned, "You're very smart! You fooled us!"

They all laughed before Topaz started barking, telling them that there was still one person.

"Oh, I've forgotten about Yang…" Ruby joked.

"Looking for me ladies?"

They turned to the source of the sound – which came from the lake. A certain blonde was slowly emerging from the water and a few moments later she got up onto the land.

"Yang, that's cheating!" Ruby pouted.

"Technically…it isn't." Yang smirked.

"She's not wrong." Blake said.

"The lake is not too far from Secret Base." Weiss shrugged, "Which is in our agreement."

Ruby whined.

"I kinda just was inside the lake behind those rocks. Blake saw me but she didn't tell. When I heard you guys coming back I just dived in and hope you'd turn another way so that you wouldn't see me." Yang took the rubber band she used to tie her pigtails off and tried to dry her hair.

"Yeah, you won the game Yang." Ruby said.

"Uh oh, I'm the master of hiding!" The blonde crossed her arms and grinned.

The girls then proceeded to play another few rounds of hide and seek when evening approached. The forest would be dangerous at night so they had gotten ready to go back home – and they were tired too from all the searching and hiding inside this complicated forest.

As they got out from the entrance of Dragon Tears Forest Ruby's cloak had caught on a branch and poor little red had fell down with her cloak strangling her.

"Ugh…not like this! _Not like this!_ " She said as she struggled and the first thing that came in her sight was her cloak and a flash of white.

Weiss had helped her to get the cloak off the branch and Ruby sat on the ground, panting for breaths looking at the heiress.

 _White._

She then heard sounds of concern as the other members of the gang came and knelt down around her – first she saw black, and then yellow.

 _Black…yellow…_

"Rubes? You kay? Hey Rubes!" Yang's voice had snapped her out of it and she just grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry guys…I'm fine!" She said as she got up, scratches already healed, "Guess I'll have to practice more to not get my cloak to hook on random places…"

"Or you can just not wear it." The heiress huffed.

"No!" Ruby quickly pulled her hood down defensively, "Anything but that! This cloak is even more important than Crescent Rose!"

"Crescent Rose?"

"Why is that?"

Yang and Weiss' voice was heard respectively asking different questions.

"It's my scythe! And…this is the first gift I get from mommy…this was what mommy used to wear before changing to white cloak!" Ruby squeaked.

The three girls mouthed an 'oh' as a car honk was heard from the roadside. George got down from the driver seat and walked to them asking if everything was fine. He then offered to send Blake and Ruby back home in which they agreed immediately (because they were too tired to walk).

Yang on the other hand still had to walk back into the forest through another entrance to go home. She was really glad she took physical-based class in school – her stamina was probably the highest among the gang as she still could make her way back home in ease.

The next day everyone was at their usual routine; Blake and Ruby walked to school together, Weiss studying with Glynda and Yang who barely made it to school before the bell rang.

The girls had politely rejected George's offer to fetch them again as the distance between Weiss' house and their houses weren't exactly short – in fact it was a ride more than twenty-five minutes.

It was another peaceful day at school again – at least for Blake. She saw Cardin when it was recess time and the boy was terrified of her. He stayed as far as possible away from the black haired girl in the cafeteria, even going as far as to ask his friend to buy him food because he didn't want to be waiting in the same line with Blake.

And apparently Yang saw that and was laughing like hell. The blonde had decided to make it a habit to hang out with Blake during recess time as she was probably the closest friend the black haired girl had in the school.

Ruby waited for Blake again at the school gate today and both were happy to walk home together. However when they had finished lunch Blake had gone to Ruby's house to ask the girl to go to Secret Base first. She said her father was home and needed to sort something out and that he needed her help. Ruby said she would wait for the girl but Blake insisted she go.

And Ruby understood the reason.

The people in Remnant could only get access to buying scroll when they reached the age of thirteen – or when they entered middle school. If neither Blake nor Ruby showed up at the entrance of Dragon Tears Forest both Weiss and Yang would be really worried about them as they didn't know what happened and Blake couldn't explain it either with no scroll in hand.

So Ruby had obliged and went there first, ready to tell them that nothing bad happened to Blake. However when she reached the entrance nobody was there and she had assumed that they were late.

She played a game with herself guessing which of them would arrive first when a familiar car came to view and a certain heiress had got out from it.

"Hi Weiss!" She almost dashed to hug the girl but remembered that Weiss wasn't fond of physical contact. Holding hands was fine but the heiress disliked anything beyond that.

"Hello Ruby." The heiress greeted back and then turned to George, "Same time."

"Aye Miss Schnee." The driver answered and drove off.

"White…" Ruby mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing…it's just that you always wear white."

"I like the color." Weiss ran her fingers through her off-center ponytail, "And my hair is white too. Even my name means 'white' in another language."

"What language is that?" Ruby tilted her head.

"Umm…I don't know. Papa said it's called 'German' and it was a very old myth language." The girl answered.

"Ah." Ruby nodded, "And why do you wear your ponytail not in the center?"

Weiss' face turned red as she looked to the side, "I…I couldn't tie it. Everytime I tried to it became off center so I just…went with it."

"That's better than me." Ruby scratched her head, "I don't even know how to tie…"

"You never grow your hair before?"

The younger girl shook her head, "It'll get in the way when I fight."

"I see."

"Ruff!"

Both girls turned to the golden retriever who appeared all of a sudden, wagging his tail hard as he sat down beside them, "Topaz!"

He lifted his head to show his collar again and Weiss had taken out the piece of paper stuffed inside it.

 _Rubes, Weiss and Blake, I gotta get something from a friend, you guys go ahead with Topaz, I already memorized the route to Secret Base (probably) so don't worry about me!_

"Her handwriting is so ugly." Ruby shook her head, "Even mine is better than hers."

That earned a giggle from the heiress.

"I guess we have to wait here either way." Weiss said, "Blake isn't here too."

Ruby nodded as they heard familiar footsteps coming from their back. A black haired girl with her trademark ribbon on top of her head had joined them and the three had come to an agreement they'd wait for the last member before going in; the 'probably' in Yang's message wasn't really convincing.

They started chatting a little bit about their school and about half an hour after that the blonde had arrived on a red-colored truck. She waved goodbye to the orange-haired man smoking a cigar on the driver seat and he had driven away, leaving the three girls here.

"That's it!" Ruby suddenly shouted when Yang joined them, "This is it! I've been thinking for so long!"

"What is it? Calm down Ruby." Weiss looked at the jumping girl.

"I've been thinking of naming our team!"

"Team? What team?"

"Duh, we're a group of huntresses! We even have our own secret base!"

"Heh, what is it Rubes?"

"Red, white, black, yellow." Ruby answered.

"Huh?" The three girls said in unison; even Topaz was tilting his head looking at the girl in red hood.

"That's the sequence I saw when you guys helped me yesterday when I fell. And also it's the sequence you guys arrive here today!"

"So?" The blonde tilted her head too.

"Our color scheme! And also the initial of our names! R,W,B,Y! It's pronounced as 'Ruby' so from now on we are team RWBY!"

Yang gave her two thumbs-up while Blake nodded shyly, both satisfied with the name – but not a certain heiress.

"Why must it be so much like your name? It's not fair!" Weiss huffed.

"Because there's no other way to read it! How do you read 'RWBY' if it wasn't 'Ruby'?"

"Then we can…change the sequence! Like…WBYR or something!"

"How do you even read that?" Yang raised her eyebrow, "Wiper?"

Ruby laughed and even Blake giggled a bit, unable to restrain themselves.

Weiss crossed her arms and pouted.

"It's okay princess, Rubes' the one who got the idea anyway, why not just let her be the leader and name it after her?" Yang put her arm around the heiress' neck and pulled her close, "Let's just enjoy our team formation!"

"Yang! No hugging!" Weiss shouted, trying to struggle to free herself from the blonde's powerful grip.

"Whoops. Sorry!" She released the heiress, "But that doesn't count as hugging!"

Weiss shot her a glare.

"Well technically she's not wrong." Ruby grinned sheepishly and Blake nodded.

"You brute!" Weiss pointed at the tallest girl of the gang and stomped off into the forest, "Come on Topaz, let's ditch that brute master of yours!"

"Topaz don't you dare-"

"Ruff!"

"Noooo! You traitor!" Yang whined as her one and only family went with the angry heiress.

Ruby just ignored the blonde as she put her hand in the air and shouted, "Go team RWBY!"

She then went after Weiss and Topaz, leaving the bumblebee behind.

Blake shot Yang a 'let's go' look and Yang nodded as they made their way into the forest, eager to spend another day playing with each other in Secret Base.

 **#**

 **Red…white…black…yellow.**

 **Yes those are four colors Monty.**

 **Man I miss him *cries***

 **Anyway, this is it. The next chapter will be a little faster and has a little time jump.**

 **Again if you like the things I wrote and want to support me you can visit my profile and read the notes under 'Announcement' tag. The more help I receive the faster I can update!**

 **I do not own RWBY.**


	7. Chapter 7 - Friendship and Love

**Hello again! As you can see I've been busy and not updating in a daily basis already. However, I have an idea of writing a series of drabble named 'Q &A with Team RWBY' which is basically like an interview with RWBY as filler (because one chapter of Secret Base is long). It's kinda like RWBY Chibi.**

 **Feel free to send in questions via PM/ my FB page. You can ask RWBY anything and they will answer you, including fourth wall breaking ones!**

 **If you like my stories and want to support me, feel free to drop by my profile and read the notes under 'Announcement'. In short, you can donate to me to help me update faster!**

 **#**

 **Chapter 7: Friendship and Love**

Since the day they met life had never been better.

Ruby had never really socialized with other people before meeting the members of Team RWBY. Sure, she knew Blake, but they both rarely talked and Ruby didn't considered them 'friend'; they were merely neighbors.

She wanted to go to Beacon Academy and she heard it was a difficult place to enter. Not only it required great skills in battle, it also required a certain level of intelligence and of course – social skill.

The only thing she lacked.

But now she was convinced that she could handle it – with the help of her friends.

Weiss on the other hand had finally went through a normal childhood – and made friends! Years of training to one day take over SDC had stressed her out, and although she could easily handle it, her longing for friends and fun had never been fulfilled.

No matter how mature Weiss might be, she was just a ten year old child.

And it was normal for children to have fun and play and run around with friends.

She never pictured herself having more than one friend – and the best part was that all of them treated her like a real person, a friend. She was really grateful to have the other girls by her side now – the weapon dork, the hot blonde and the shy reader.

Blake had opened up way more than she used to be and she genuinely thanked her friends for that, especially the blonde. She was like the big sister of the gang – although Blake was elder than her by birthday. She was like a sun that took care of everyone and she would never forget how warm her hand was the first time she held it.

She loved them.

She loved her dear friends and she would do anything to be together with them.

And she loved a certain heiress the most.

The heiress was the first person to approach her, to make her smile and make her heart thumped hard.

Well the last part was a bit confusing for Blake but she was sure she would eventually figure it out when she grew bigger.

Yang had never seen someone so beautiful. The first thing she thought was that the heiress was really cute and she longed to know her more.

With the help of her Yang became friends with two of the best people in the world – little red and quiet black. In her mind she had already treated Ruby like her own little sister and Blake as a partner that she would protect.

And she had known, as time passed, what exactly was the feeling she had for the white-haired heiress.

However she didn't say anything because she was afraid that it would ruin their current relationship.

#

A year had passed by then.

It was fall and the surrounding temperature was pretty low.

Weiss had to attend a ball with her parents so she was absent; that left red, black and yellow at Secret Base today.

They had promised to see each other here everyday if they were available and that tradition hadn't change over the year.

Ruby's birthday was the day after and the gang was really excited to celebrate the first birthday of a member in the gang together at Secret Base. Weiss made a promise that she would definitely be here tomorrow but today she really had to go.

Yang was a little bit disappointed at that.

But she didn't show it – she was still the big sister with a confident smile and she wished no one would ever notice if she was feeling down; she needed to be strong and protect everyone.

Qrow and Summer, Ruby's parents had taken two days off to plan the best birthday for their only daughter. Presently they were with Blake and Yang at Secret Base, discussing the party tomorrow.

Ruby had insisted on celebrating it at Secret Base although Summer had invited the gang to their house. In the end everyone agreed to Ruby's suggestion and started sorting things out.

Both huntsmen were actually very excited to finally pay Secret Base a visit after a year. They had been so busy with missions and school they didn't have time to properly know their daughter's beloved place – and they felt bad about it. Thus, both had rushed to finish all the work so that they would be allowed two days off – and they did.

Summer was amazed by the beauty of this place – beautifully shaped cave, the Secret Base and the lane beside the huge rocks that was filled with a blast of gold and red leaves. Yang had told the woman that she came at a correct time, for this place was the prettiest during fall.

"So~ barbecue?" Qrow shrugged.

"Yeah, we can make a campfire here!" Ruby, currently nine year old threw up both her hands happily, "Plus it's cold now, so a fire would be nice and warm!"

"But there are dry leaves on the ground." Blake said calmly – she had been less reserved and more vocally dynamic over the year, "It's not friendly to fire."

Ruby pouted and turned to Yang and the dog beside her.

"Eh don't look at me!" Yang put both hands up beside her head like she was in surrender, "It's your birthday, you decide Rubes! Although dry leaves with campfire could be dangerous."

Even Topaz didn't agree with it.

"Hey, no campfire doesn't mean no barbecue." Qrow smirked and ruffled her daughter's hair.

The cute voice Ruby made while struggling out of her father's grip had echoed through the cave.

"Yes honey. We can bring the grill here and maybe set it near the lake so that if anything happens we've got water nearby." Summer accepted her daughter's embrace with open arms when she had successfully escaped from the man.

"That will work!" Yang exclaimed and Blake nodded.

"Yay! Birthday barbecue tomorrow! Let's surprise Weiss!" Ruby squeaked.

"We'll bring the food to the entrance on our car and then we'll have to take turn carry them to Secret Base. Deal?" Qrow turned to the bumblebee pair.

"Deal." Yang smirked and Blake just nodded.

#

Weiss couldn't concentrate at the ball.

It was organized by the Schnee Dust Company to celebrate their sixtieth anniversary and they had invited many business partners and politicians to the party.

And Weiss being the heiress was compulsory to attend it – even if her parents told her that it was fine, she insisted and said it was her responsibility. She could go back to see her friends the next day anyway and she knew it would be Ruby's birthday tomorrow.

She was certain that they would throw a party to celebrate and she was even more certain that it would be in Secret Base. They would yell 'surprise!' the moment she showed up.

Positive. Hundred percent.

Weiss' lips curved upwards as she recalled her best friends. She had taken a year to finally found out that among the three friends, she saw Ruby as her best of the best friends. Sure the younger girl was noisy and she wouldn't stop talking if the topic was about either weapons or cookies but her caring nature was soothing and Weiss could talk to her the easiest.

The hyperactive girl was a ball of innocence and love – when she said something she always meant it and she never lied. She said what she thought and she would never hurt anyone, ever.

That didn't mean she didn't like the other two; she loved them more than anything else in the world. Yang was her first friend and despite being playful and nonchalant, she was actually very motherly and she could be serious when she needed to. On first glance she looked tough and difficult to talk to but she was perhaps the best person to rely in the world.

However she wasn't the easiest person to talk to.

Call her the best listener, the best person to give useful advice; but Weiss knew Yang was hiding too much from them. She never knew what Yang's parents were like – and she only very briefly heard about the blonde telling her that her mother abandoned her.

One line, a year ago, that was all.

It wasn't Yang's responsibility to tell the gang everything but Weiss had seen those hurt and fear in her eyes. She wanted to appear strong to the gang so that she could be the big sister that protected them all and everytime Weiss couldn't help but felt bad when she saw those purple orbs.

And as time went on, she felt like as if there was a thin layer of glass separating them and Yang was no longer the easiest to talk to.

As for Blake…the girl was really shy – although more opened up compared to the first time they met. But even now she was still quiet and she would only talk if she absolutely needed to.

It became more of a…tendency to be alone rather than shy.

Like she was trying to distance herself from the rest of the world – it was as if she was hiding something. She was probably the same with Yang, she would listen quietly and although not good at giving advice, she would always stay there and listen you out. It was her own way of giving encouragement.

Still, she wasn't the easiest person to talk to either.

The vibes that both of them gave are too much alike - Weiss felt like as if they were two wounded beasts.

Blake came from a chaotic family – although loving but also full of hurt.

Yang had no one to rely to – she even lived alone since the age of nine.

How long would it take before the both of them really open up their hearts?

Weiss sighed, her eyebrows furrowed.

She told herself to forget about this and instead focused on the ball.

 _Conceal it…don't feel it…_

#

Blake had decided to not tell her parents about celebrating Ruby's birthday tomorrow.

It wouldn't affect anything anyway – her parents were still going to argue, and they didn't even know what Blake was doing in Secret Base ever since she started to go there last year. Beatrix knew that Blake played there with her friends Ruby, Weiss and Yang but she never really asked about the details.

She probably trusted that her daughter would tell her if she felt like it.

But after so many years of fear Blake had come to a conclusion – acceptance.

Since nothing was going to change anyway, instead of running away, why wouldn't she just accept it? Running away was like her second nature – her legs moved on their own whenever she was scared. But that had to stop now.

And she made it – she didn't run. When her parents started to fight she just sat there and calmly walked up to her own room to avoid the noise. That wasn't running away; it was simply because she couldn't concentrate on doing things with all those noises.

Eleven years and she finally did it.

She felt happy but at the same time her way of thinking had become more and more pessimistic. She always thought of the negative side, even if how bright the issue might be. She didn't dislike this part of her; it was always good to be prepared for the worst, because people wouldn't know what would happen to them in the next minute – or even seconds.

Sometimes she was really jealous of Yang – the bright sun dragon who shone upon everyone and showered them with love and positivity.

Both were opposite.

Blake was the moon and Yang was the sun; she could only reflect the blonde's energy.

But she didn't hate her. In fact, she liked her – a lot. If she were to choose among the gang, she'd say Yang was the best to talk to. The blonde always listened and her smile was contagious, it was as if Blake could tell her everything – and she had a large heart too.

Yes she could tell Yang everything, but there was one thing that she would never tell her.

Weiss Schnee.

#

"Why am I…doing…everything by…myself?" Yang panted for breaths as she walked towards Secret Base.

"Because you need to train to become a huntress! Daddy said this is good for muscle train!" Ruby said with that innocent voice of hers and she sped past Yang through the uneven forest ground.

"That old man!" Yang shouted.

"I'm, not, old." Qrow said as he walked pass Yang, both hands put behind his head, "Oho, firecracker's gonna lose!"

"Qrow, will you stop bullying every single kid in the world?" Summer tried to help Yang but the latter had come to a halt suddenly, both eyes turned red.

Qrow, even Blake who was behind her had stopped moving and everyone looked at her; the only oblivious one being little red who was already nowhere to be seen.

"Yang? I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" Summer asked, voice full of concern.

"No…" Yang shook her head; her expression wasn't angry, it was more of a defensive one, "I'm sorry I scared you Summer…it's just…"

"Ruff!" Topaz who was standing beside her put the bag of sausages on the ground and turned to her.

She knew what her dog just told her.

 _It's okay, just tell them. Nobody's gonna blame you._

"I uh…ever since I've discovered my semblance…" She looked down guiltily, blaming herself for scaring Summer Rose like that, "I sorta noticed that the power…comes from my hair. So uh…I don't like it when…when people touch my hair."

Summer, Qrow and Blake had breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank Dust, I thought I was so annoying you started to hate me." Summer said.

"What? No! No I would never hate you!" Yang said, both eyes turned back to lilac.

"It's good to know that." The woman smiled, "Come, let me help you."

After fifteen minutes of Momma Rose threatening, Qrow had agreed on helping Yang to take the food. Blake was in charge of the grill and Ruby the charcoals.

They reached Secret Base in a few minutes and Yang had sent Topaz to the entrance to escort the heiress who would be arriving soon. Over the year they had recognized the route to Secret Base but it wasn't safe for a little girl to go through a forest alone so they had a mutual agreement to either move in pairs or have Topaz by their side.

Since it was a Sunday the traffic wouldn't be bad and moreover it was morning – no one would wake up so early on a holiday.

Summer had suggested setting everything up and had them spent the day relaxed.

Weiss arrived shortly after and to her surprise, nobody yelled 'Surprise!'

It wasn't her birthday anyway.

She greeted them and Yang had told them she had invited her stepdad to come over.

"I uh…you guys never have a chance to meet him so…I thought I'd introduce him…to you all. Is it okay? I'm really sorry I didn't ask…I forgot…" Yang said, pigtails swaying as she squirmed.

"It's totally fine! Oh I didn't know you have a stepdad Yang!" Ruby dashed to hug the blonde, "I can't wait to see him!"

"You have a stepdad but…you live alone in the forest?" Qrow tilted his head.

"I need a legal father to be able to get out from that stupid orphanage." Yang explained, "But he has not enough money for a daughter and I like to live on my own anyway so…yeah."

"When is he coming over?" Blake asked.

"Probably soon."

"We should go and pick him up." Weiss who was busy playing with Topaz said, "He doesn't know the route isn't it?"

"Mmhmm." Yang said, "I'll go. You guys enjoy!"

"Wait, I'll go with you!" Weiss said while she ran to Yang, "It's too dangerous to go alone."

"I'll be fine princess, just enjoy your day here. You didn't come here yesterday so go make up for it." Yang said, turning to the opening of the forest.

Blake wanted to volunteer to go with the blonde but the heiress had stomped to her and held her hand before Blake could even speak, leaving Topaz behind, "You're not going alone Yang Xiao Long."

Both disappeared into the forest and the dog didn't have any intention on following them.

He knew his master would appreciate to be alone with the heiress.

"Why are you so stubborn?" Yang questioned once they got out of sight.

"I'm not. You are, Yang. You know it's dangerous to wander alone."

"I'm not wandering, I know the path!"

"And so do I!"

"Look," She stopped, "I just want you to enjoy being with them okay? I know you miss here even just for a day and I know you're tired."

Weiss scowled, "What's the difference of spending time with them and with you? You're my best friend too."

Yang's eyes widened, then she blinked and broke into a huge grin.

"Thanks princess."

"Stop calling me that."

They both stopped arguing and Weiss had found out that she needed to lift her head to look at the blonde's face now.

Did she grow taller?

Weiss didn't notice that.

Over the year she only grown a little bit but the blonde had grown _a lot._

"Weiss?"

She had been staring at Yang for a solid thirty seconds before Yang snapped her out of it.

"Is something wrong?"

"N…nope." Weiss shook her head, "Let's go. Don't let your papa wait."

"Sure."

Yang walked in front and she made sure the heiress was behind her every few seconds. She wanted to stay behind but she couldn't – she needed to hide her blush. Weiss had been staring at her and those icy blue orbs were so beautiful; she had grown a lot taller now and she could see the heiress from a different angle - but she had found out that no matter what angle she saw the heiress she was just as perfect.

She knew.

She knew she loved Weiss Schnee.

But for now, it stayed friendship first.

When they arrived at the entrance of the forest, no one could be seen waiting for them, meaning that Yang's stepdad hadn't arrived yet.

The atmosphere got really awkward between them and when Yang was about to say some stupid thing – particularly a pun, Weiss had spoken first.

"Yang?"

"Yeah?"

"I uh…I think you'll look good when you...release your hair." The heiress squirmed.

"Really?"

"Yes…"

"Okay." Yang said, amused by the shorter girl. It wasn't easy for a stubborn little princess like Weiss to compliment people and Yang had taken that to heart. She untied the two pigtails and released her wild blonde mane which had already reached her waist.

"See, I told you." The heiress smiled.

"Why thank you milady." Yang gave her a knight salute.

"You dolt."

Just then a familiar red-colored truck had parked behind Qrow and Summer's car and a man wearing a black fedora walked out.

"Hey doc!" Yang shouted, "Here!"

"Hey little dragon." The man smiled, getting ready to light up his cigar.

"Hey! No smoking today!"

"Oops." He put the lighter off and smiled sheepishly, "Well, I see a Schnee beside you."

"Yeah, this is my friend Weiss." Yang said.

"Hello Weiss." Dr. Torchwick had knelt down so that he could be on eye-level with the tiny heiress. He then held out his hand which was wearing a leather glove.

"Hello doctor-"

"Torchwick. You can just call me Roman young lady."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Roman."

"Me too, Weiss." The man smiled.

Dr. Torchwick was wearing casual clothes today, no white robes or rubber gloves, just a plain black undershirt with a white leather jacket and a pair of black trousers with boots of the same color.

"Alright, let's go meet your friends." The man said as the three of them made their way into Dragon Tears Forest.

 **#**

 **They've finally grown up! I'm sorry for the sudden time jump, I don't want them to be like Edogawa Conan who took 10 freaking years to grow up.**

 **But they've grown up not only physically but also mentally. I felt like Blake's a little too mature after the time jump but I think her character is a more…you know, kids who mature early so I'll let it slide lol.**

 **Anyway ever since chapter 1 Yang hasn't have much interaction with Weiss but Blake has tons. So I figured it'll only be fair to my little dragon to have a little time with the princess~ If you've noticed though, Yang's interaction with Weiss is more physical but Blake's is more heart to heart. So I REALLY have to give Yang and Weiss a little screentime together!**


	8. Chapter 8 - Friends Forever

**So after my first bumblebee two-shot…it's time to get back to Secret Base.**

 **If you like my stories and want to support me, pay a visit to my profile and read the notes under 'announcement'. In short, you can donate to me to help me update faster!**

 **I do not own RWBY.**

 **#**

 **Chapter 8: Friends Forever**

It didn't take long for Dr. Torchwick, Weiss and Yang to reach Secret Base.

Topaz was the first to dash to the doctor wagging his tail as the blonde introduced them to each other.

Qrow and Summer went to shake hands with him and the girls took turn to introduce themselves. He wished Ruby happy birthday and the girl happily thanked him.

They saved the birthday cake for night time and proceeded to start the barbecue. First the adults set up the grill, followed by the preparing of food by the four girls. After everything was done they had started to grill the food and eat while chatting happily with each other.

And Yang couldn't help but kept stealing glances at the heiress whenever she had the chance; but she made sure none of them noticed.

She was longing to touch her more; to listen to her chuckle and to see her smile.

She would wait for the heiress, no matter how long it would take.

But what she didn't notice was another pair of eyes looking at the same person – a pair of quiet amber eyes.

Blake was way better than Yang at this, but there was a moment where both eyes stopped on the heiress at the same time and this didn't go unnoticed by each other. Blake quickly looked down while Yang looked away, pretending to play with her golden locks.

 _Is Blake…no, that's not possible._

 _Was Yang stealing glances at Weiss too?_

Their minds were so occupied by thoughts and assumptions that they didn't notice the birthday girl calling them.

"Hey!" Ruby shouted with a louder volume and the two had finally snapped out from it.

"Are you two okay?" Weiss asked.

"Y…yeah." Yang scratched her head and Blake just smiled.

 _This can wait._

 _Never mind, I was probably thinking too much._

"Anyway what is it Rubes?" Yang tried to distract the pair of questioning eyes from the heiress by making use of little red.

"What?" She tilted her head, a moment later silver pupils widened and she put both her palms together, resulting a clapping sound, "Right! Let's play! I'm already done eating."

"Sure! What do you wanna play?"

"Ruby, moving around too much after eating will upset your stomach." Weiss crossed her arms, "If you want to play, play something that doesn't require big movements."

"Aww. I was gonna suggest playing tag."

"Uh, even I know to not run after eating." Yang teased.

Ruby pouted.

"Let's just sit here and chat." Blake suggested.

So Team RWBY had sat in a horizontal line on the ground near the huge rocks beside the lake.

"Okay! What do you guys want to talk about?" Ruby glanced at Weiss, Blake, then Yang.

And her eyes stopped at the blonde.

"Eh Yang, you let your hair down!"

The other three girls almost fell down.

"It has been like this since I came back here with Weiss and Dr. Torchwick, you dolt." Yang imitated Weiss' way of talking.

Ruby laughed while Weiss' face turned red with a scowl on her face – and even Blake couldn't control but chuckled lightly.

"Ah, stop laughing at me you dolt!" Yang crossed her arms and tried her best to pout like the heiress did.

" _Yang Xiao Long._ "

"Okay…I'm sorry We-" Yang reverted back to her normal self and apologized but the heiress had instantly tackled her on the ground, not giving her any chance to continue her sentence. She sat on Yang's stomach, pinning her while pinching her cheeks with all her might, showing her disapproval of Yang's mocking.

"You…stupid…little…dragon…"

"Wuby! Bwake! Halp meeeee!"

Ruby laughed even harder looking at them – to the point where she rolled on the ground and almost choked. Blake on the other hand just shook her head and said, "You're on your own this time Yang."

"I'm shorry pwincesh!"

" _Excuse me?!_ "

"I'm weally shorry Weish!"

"Hmph!" She released her hands, got up from Yang, and stomped to the cave to join the adults instead.

"She's angry of me…" Yang got up and dusted off the dry leaves on her clothes.

"Your teasing tends to go overboard sometimes…" Ruby said with a sheepish smile on her face.

"And, who, laughed, at, her, the, most?!" Yang attacked Ruby by cupping her cheek tight and moved her palms in a circular motion.

Weiss heard the sound of laughing coming from the group of girls a few moments later. She already made up her mind to let Yang thought that she was angry and let the girl be nervous.

But apparently it wasn't working.

She sighed and decided to take her time listening to Qrow and Summer talking about their missions with Roman. Most of them were interesting – until the man started talking about skirt lengths. And Summer didn't seem to mind an eleven year old child like Weiss listening to that.

Roman just laughed and proceeded to tell them about funny stories he encountered in his job. Although they were hilarious, Weiss couldn't focus on listening to him at all. Her attention kept being distracted by the group that was sitting beside the lake.

Debating whether she should forgive Yang for making fun of her or not, she felt a tap on her shoulder and she saw Summer when she turned around.

"Weiss honey, go join them. It must be boring with us here." She smiled in a motherly fashion.

"No no!" Weiss panicked and waved her hands, "It's not boring at all! In fact it was really nice hearing you guys talk, it gives me a lot of knowledge and lessons."

"Why thank you." Roman giggled.

"Tsk tsk ice queen, it's written all over your face~" Qrow smirked, pointing at the heiress' face with his index finger.

"W…what? Ice queen?"

"Qrow!"

"Whoops."

Weiss was pretty amazed by the resemblance between Qrow and Yang. If Yang said Qrow was her biological father she wouldn't even hesitate to believe her. Their attitude and the way of speaking were basically similar – the only difference was Yang's voice being more energetic and Qrow's was calmer.

"So? Going back to join them?" Qrow knelt down.

"I uh…"

"Forgive me but it's really obvious that you want to join them instead of staying here with us." Roman motioned his head towards his stepdaughter.

"Just go, Weiss." Summer encouraged.

"Alright." Weiss smiled, "Thank you."

"It's our pleasure." Roman touched his fedora and moved his head a little, just like how a cowboy gave salute.

The heiress walked towards RBY and Ruby was the first to greet her.

"Hey Weiss! Welcome back!"

"Hi Ruby." She took a look at the girls.

Yang was sitting the nearest to Weiss, to her right side was Ruby. Her previous position was in between Ruby and Blake but the black-haired girl had moved into her spot to get nearer to talk to both Yang and Ruby.

So her choice was to either sit beside Yang or beside Blake.

Naturally she went to the black haired girl.

"Aww princess, still angry at me?" Yang said as the heiress walked passed her.

"Hmph." She made a grunt with her nose while adjusting her skirt to sit down properly beside Blake.

Yang covered her face with both her hands and pretended to cry dramatically while Ruby kept patting her shoulder to comfort her.

"Weiss?" Blake whispered.

"Yes?"

"Yang didn't mean it."

"I know." She smirked, "Just want to let her be nervous a bit before telling her."

"She didn't show it but she probably felt guilty inside."

Weiss sighed. Yeah, she had forgotten about the blonde's tendency to bottle things up and never told any of them – as well as her habit of blaming herself if any unfortunate accidents involving the gang happened.

"Yang Xiao Long." She said as she straightened her back.

"Full name! Yes princess?"

"Stop calling me that! And do you understand why I was angry at you?"

"Yeah…" She scratched her head, "Am really sorry prin- Weiss."

"That's good." Weiss smiled, "What were you guys talking about just now? I can hear your laugh even from the cave."

"Ruby was telling funny stories that happened in the combat school she was studying at." Blake giggled, recalling the incidents that Ruby just told them.

"No fair! I want to know too!" Weiss squeaked.

"Don't worry Weiss, I have tons more to tell!"

#

It was around four in the afternoon when Ruby suggested playing tag – which all of them agreed before realizing that there wasn't enough space for them to run around.

Team RWBY dejectedly walked towards the adults to join them; they were presently sitting inside Secret Base, still chatting happily. Ruby was walking in front with Yang beside her, followed by Weiss and lastly Blake.

Summer saw them so she waved her hand and Ruby had burst into rose petals, leaping right into her mother's awaiting arms. The rest of the gang also quickened their pace towards the cave – and Blake tripped.

Yang and Weiss stopped instantly. The adults all rushed to Blake and everyone was trying to help her up. Sounds of concern filled the air instantly as the black-haired girl got up, assuring them that she was fine and that it was just a scratch.

But she felt something strange.

Firstly, every pair of eyes around her did not focus on her face or her injuries.

Secondly, she saw a black colored object on the ground.

A black ribbon made of silk.

Golden orbs widened as she felt a breeze directly with her ears – and it was not the human pair.

It was over.

Her secret of being a Faunus was no longer kept in the dark. Her best friends and their parents had seen her cat ears, which meant they knew that she wasn't a human.

She cursed her legs for tripping and her brain was in a total mess – she didn't know what to do.

"Blake, are you alright?" Yang said as Ruby who was beside her looked at her, silver eyes clearly concerned.

"N…no…I…"

This was it. Their friendship was doomed. Now that they knew Blake was not human, they would abandon her like how they always did in her nightmares.

And they had finally become reality.

She didn't know what to say nor what to do, so she did what she was the best at. Without delaying even a second her legs started moving and she ran.

Anywhere was better than seeing her best friends' disappointed expressions.

"Blake!" She heard Ruby's voice calling for her but she did not stop.

Tears spilled out of her eyes as she ran into the forest, not knowing her destination. She couldn't go home like this, her mother would question her about this and she didn't want to tell her that her secret of being a cat Faunus had been found out.

So where could she go?

She came to realization that she belonged to nowhere. She had no friends aside from Ruby, Weiss and Yang; she had no one to rely on.

Normally she would go to Yang if she had any problem and the blonde would gladly help her no matter how troublesome the problem was.

But she couldn't go to Yang now; in fact she was running away from her. After a few minutes of running she was near to the entrance. However before she could get out of Dragon Tears Forest she tripped again and hurt her knees.

The skin was torn off and it started bleeding. Blake was one of the members in Team RWBY that didn't unlock her aura so she had no choice but to treat it manually. Limping towards the entrance she slowly made her way onto the pavement path.

The first thing that came to her sight was another opening that she had always seen Yang entering. They wouldn't expect Blake to be in there so that was probably the best place to hide. She knew they were chasing after her but she didn't want to face them, because she was terrified.

She couldn't witness their friendship broke in front of her. It was destined to be destroyed anyway, so it was better to hide and not face it; at least it wouldn't hurt that much.

So she limped into the other opening of the forest while bearing with the throbbing pain coming from her knees.

#

"Blake! Where are you?!" Ruby shouted while she ran along the route towards the entrance of Dragon Tears Forest. She was the first to get out due to her semblance but there wasn't any sign of Blake around their usual gathering spot before departing to Secret Base.

Weiss was the second to arrive, followed by Yang, Topaz, Qrow, Summer and Roman.

"Why did she run?" Weiss said while panted for breaths.

"I don't know…" Ruby said as she tried her best not to cry.

"She must be really afraid of us finding out that she's a Faunus." Yang bit her lips, "Silly Blake."

"But why?! It doesn't matter if she's a Faunus or not! Blake is Blake!" Ruby cried.

"That wasn't how she was thinking." Yang shook her head, "It was my fault. I shouldn't have started to walk faster to join the adults."

"No it isn't." Qrow walked to the three girls and knelt down, "Her secret was bound to be found out sooner. She can't hide this from you forever. So stop blaming yourself firecracker."

"Qrow is right." Summer said, "Blake was afraid that you'll find out because she thought you wouldn't want to be friends with her anymore."

"But that's not true!" Weiss shouted.

"She doesn't know that." Qrow's lips curved upwards, "So you need to tell her."

"Yeah girls. Go chase her and tell her how you really feel." Roman said.

"But…but she doesn't want to see us…that's why she ran! If we chase after her she'll run again!" Ruby sobbed.

"If she runs again, you'll just to chase after her again." Summer smiled, "Just go, honey. She will understand if you tell her."

"That's right little red." Roman smiled too, "See, if you really value this friendship, you'll do anything to save it."

"Roman's right. You're the leader of Team RWBY honey. And you're a huntress wannabe. You can do this!" Summer encouraged.

"Yeah." Yang nodded, "Yeah Rubes, we can do this. I…I don't wanna lose Blake."

"We love her." Weiss added.

"Y…you're right guys…let's go get her!" Ruby sniffed and forced herself to smile, "Alright Team RWBY! Let's go get Blake back!"

"But where did she run off to?" Weiss frowned.

"Topaz!" Yang shouted as the dog sat down beside her and whined.

"What's wrong boy? You can't track her scent?" Ruby got near to the guilty-looking golden retriever.

"It's the smoke." Roman pointed towards the entrance, "The smoke from the barbecue. He must've inhaled it too much and he lost his tracking ability temporarily."

"Damn…what do we do?" Yang stroked Topaz's fur, "It's okay Topaz, it's not your fault."

"Think. If you're Blake, what would you do?" Qrow suggested.

"First of all, Blake doesn't want us to find her – she won't go to the places we all know, so her own house is eliminated. The school is closed on Sunday so it's unlikely." Yang deduced.

Weiss had an idea suddenly as she stood exactly in front of the entrance and looked around. The first thing that came to her mind if she were to hide was the vehicles.

"The cars, try look there!"

"Not likely, she doesn't want us to find her." Yang answered, but obliged anyway. The rest of the gang then followed her but Blake was nowhere to be seen around the vehicles.

"Should we call the police?" Roman said.

"No!" Ruby shouted, "No Uncle Roman! She'll be scared…she needs us! We'll find her! But…where…"

Everyone simultaneously looked around and soon a gasp was heard. They looked at the heiress as she pointed at the other entrance of Dragon Tears Forest.

"You don't think…?" Yang gulped.

"Maybe. It's possible." Qrow said.

"But it's dangerous to go there alone! We have to find her!" Ruby yelped.

"I'll go with Topaz, I'm familiar with that area!" Yang suggested.

"No Yang, Topaz and you should be separated." Summer said.

In the end, they had separated into four groups; Ruby and Yang would go into that entrance together with Weiss and Topaz but would go separate ways looking for Blake; Roman would wait here while Qrow would go back to Secret Base just in case she had found her way back and lastly Summer who would drive back to their house to check if Blake was there.

#

No matter where Blake walked, everything looked the same to her. She couldn't tell the difference.

She was officially lost.

 _This is bad…_

Her knees had stopped bleeding but the dull pain was still present and it was slowing her down a lot. She started regretting running into an unknown area alone. She tried to go back the way she came in but she couldn't find any trace as the ground was covered with dry leaves.

After Dust knew how long of walking, the scenery started to change – there was an abandoned house not far from where she stood.

Maybe that was Yang's house. She felt relieved and her legs moved on their own, bringing her towards that house.

However, she came to a halt when her brain told her that her initial thought was to run away from her friend. She gritted her teeth; how could she be such a bitch? She ran away from her friends and now when she was in trouble she came back to them for help.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

What if that wasn't Yang's house? Maybe it was someone else's house…or maybe no one was living in it. But that was all just excuses to justify her own actions. She hated herself for having thoughts like this. Ruby, Weiss and Yang didn't deserve a friend like her.

Rustles of leaves was heard behind her, startling her as she turned around.

And amber orbs had met sapphire.

"Blake? There you are!" The heiress was struggling for breaths.

Blake could see how messy her clothes and hair were; she was probably running around the forest non-stop searching for her. Guilt washed her as she turned around, ready to run again.

"Blake, please…please don't run away anymore!" Weiss shouted.

Her voice was so fragile, as if it would shatter upon contact. It broke Blake's heart to see her best friend like this, so she used up all her might to force herself to stand still.

"Topaz, go tell the others we found Blake. Is that you and Yang's house?"

"Ruff!"

"Alright, go boy!"

"Ruff ruff!" Topaz took off, leaving the two girls there.

"Blake." Weiss stood there, not daring to step any further in fear that it would trigger Blake's tendency to run again.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hid it from you. You must think that I'm disgusting…"

"Yes you shouldn't." Weiss huffed, "You shouldn't hide it from us. You should tell us who you really are."

Blake shrunk as she heard the heiress' angry tone.

"But no, you are not disgusting. You're you, we don't care if you're a Faunus. It doesn't make you any different."

"But…"

"Blake. We all love you. Ruby, Yang, Qrow, Summer, Topaz and even Roman, we all love you for who you are, not what you are."

Blake turned around, sobbing as she looked at the heiress.

"What makes you think we'll abandon you? Is our friendship this fragile? Is this how you see us?"

"No!" The Faunus shouted, "I've never doubted our friendship! You guys are the best people in the world and I don't wanna lose you!"

"Then why are you running away from us?!"

"Because I'm a Faunus! People hate Faunus!"

"People like Cardin hate Faunus. We're not anything like him and you know it!"

"But…"

"Ah-pup-pup-pup!" Weiss raised her hand to eye-level, "I don't wanna hear your excuses. Just answer me one question Blake. Do you love us like how we love you?"

"I…yes."

"That's good." The heiress smiled, "That all that matters."

Weiss then walked slowly to the Faunus while taking a good look at her – she was in a really bad shape. Her clothes were torn, probably by branches as she ran; her body was full of minor injuries like scratches and cuts but her knees looked really bad.

"Sit down." She ordered and the black-haired girl obliged without saying anything.

Weiss then knelt in front of her, putting her hand extremely near to the wounds on Blake's knee but far enough to not touch them. She then began to channel her aura to help Blake ease the pain. Blake sent her a questioning look and she just smiled.

"Schnee family always has to be prepared for battle. There are many business enemies who're jealous of us and we have the chance to be attacked anytime so my parents had me prepared."

A moment later the pain wasn't that bad already but Blake didn't stop crying.

"Thank you…I was really happy." Blake sniffed, "I was really happy when you came to me the first day we met. I was really upset but you reached out to me. You told me it's all gonna be okay and you smiled to me. Then you brought Yang and Ruby to me…it was the best day ever. I don't want to lose you all…I want to always be with you all."

"Of course you will be with us." Weiss spread out her arms, "Always."

Blake accepted the invitation and hugged the heiress tightly.

"Blake!" Ruby's voice was heard and soon the gang arrived.

The Faunus broke the embrace and Yang had taken this chance to pull the girls in for a big group hug. Blake indulged herself in the warmth of the people she loved the most in the world.

Friendship was just like one's life; it had ups and downs, happiness and sadness as well as hardships. It was a process that was necessary and through facing difficult times together they knew each other better and deeper, thus tightening the bond.

The bond would be tested through time and it was love that brought them all united as one, that made their friendship stand strong.

"We're going to be friends forever. No more secrets! Promise?" Ruby shouted with tears of joy rolling on her cheeks.

"Aye captain!"

"Promise."

"Of course."

Blake smiled from the bottom of her heart – she was truly happy to have such understanding friends like them and she no longer had to worry about them finding out her secret.

There would no longer be nightmares and fear.

Even if there was, she would go to them and seek for help.

For once in her life, she felt fully accepted.

She vowed silently in her heart that no matter what happened, she would not leave them. She would not run away again. Even if she ran, it would be to her best friends.

 **#**

 **And they live happily ever after!**

 **Just kidding. If I can't live happily ever after, neither can they! *evil laughs***

 **Anyway that's it for this chapter. The whole point about this chapter is the Faunus discovering and I had to add in so many events to make it 3k words length XD.**

 **Things aren't always happy, let me tell you first. So be prepared for next chapter :D**


	9. Chapter 9 - Farewell, My Friend

**I'm back after writing 'World Is Mine'!**

 **Please support me on Pa/tre/on as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories!**

 **I do not own RWBY.**

 **#**

 **Chapter 9: Farewell, My Friend**

Yang felt a sting in her chest when she saw Blake and Weiss hugging each other near her house yesterday.

She bit her lips to stop herself from thinking too much; she was currently sparring with Ruby as the latter had agreed to help her train in order to pass the application exam for the scholarship at Signal Academy.

Weiss had excused herself from meeting them at Secret Base today as her sister Winter had come back to visit her, and Blake had to help her parents in taking care of the shop because her father was sick.

So that left the red and yellow – and the dog.

They always trained when the monochrome pair wasn't around to help both improved in fighting. Ruby was amazed by the blonde – she was pretty much naturally gifted in fighting, unlike Ruby who had no talent at all and had trained very hard to be as skilled as she was today.

And today was the first time Yang had a real spar with little red. Roman had gifted her a pair of gauntlets which according to the man was a prototype his friend built a long time ago before he passed away.

Before this they had always spar bare-fisted and using sticks; however after receiving the yellow-colored gauntlet they had agreed to try a real fight. Of course they had activated their auras fully to protect themselves from fatal injuries.

Yang was totally excited for this – but her mind couldn't stop thinking how Blake and Weiss had hugged each other yesterday. That caused her attention to be distracted as she received a full hit on her stomach from Ruby's scythe.

" _Shit!_ " She shouted as she was sent flying backwards.

"Yang!" Ruby and Topaz dashed to her immediately, the former trying to help her get up, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah…just a scratch…" She forced herself to smile but ultimately failed.

Because her orange T-shirt had turned red from the bleeding at her stomach.

"Oh Dust! I'm so sorry Yang! I…what to do…you…uh…" Ruby dropped Crescent Rose and squirmed, trying desperately to clear her mind.

"Hey…it's fine. It's starting to heal up already…" Yang patted Ruby's head.

"But…" Little red started to cry, "But I almost cut you in half!"

"Hey hey, it's really fine Rubes. It's my fault for not paying attention. I should've focused my aura on the spot where you were gonna hit…or dodge it. That strike wasn't very fast, yeah, I should've dodged it. Sorry Rubes…"

After half an hour of sharing aura and cleaning off wounds, they had finally settled down. Presently they were sitting by the lake side, Yang wearing Ruby's cloak to cover herself while waiting for her shirt to dry off; Ruby had helped her to wash the blood off.

"Yang?" Ruby said, unable to withstand the awkward silent.

"Yeah Rubes?" The blonde answered casually. Her wound had already completely sealed up, thus not bleeding anymore. It still hurt though.

"Are you okay?"

"You've been asking that for…I don't know, sixty two times already? I'm _fine_ Ruby."

"No, not the wound…" She frowned in concern, "What makes you…unable to focus?"

Yang flinched. Topaz was looking at her with a pair of concerned eyes; he knew what was making Yang so unfocused.

"Are you sick? Are you hungry?"

"No Rubes, I'm fine." Yang smiled gently, "Just…you know, worried about…school."

"Was it about Blake and Weiss yesterday?"

She flinched.

Again.

This little red had really good observation skills which Yang sometimes really hated.

"Nah, just thinking about what will happen if we didn't find Blake in time." She brushed it off.

Ruby narrowed her eyes, but shortly after had sighed and decided she would respect Yang's decision.

"Just…you know, if you need anything…I'm right here." The girl said.

"Aww that's so nice of you Rubes!" Yang grinned while ruffling her head.

"Ruff!" Topaz wagged his tail.

"A…anyway, I think that's enough for today. How about I send you back to your house Yang?"

"Just admit that you want to come to my house little red~"

"What? No! I just want to make sure you're fine!"

"Yeah yeah whatever~ let's go."

They got up and started to move through the forest. Throughout the year Topaz had learned and recognized the route to their house directly from Secret Base; that would make their journey shorter now that they didn't need to go out the forest and then reenter again from the other entrance.

Yang had never invited any of them to her house before, thus making the trio extremely curious. But there wasn't any special reason she didn't want to do so – she just didn't feel the need to.

"Wow!" Ruby exclaimed when she saw Yang's house.

"Ruff!" Topaz barked as if he wanted to welcome the girl.

"Bring me in! Bring me inside for a tour Yang!" Ruby burst into a swirl of rose petals as she dashed to the house.

"Whoa chill Rubes. Never seen old houses before?" Yang said as she followed the girl, carefully measuring her step so that she wouldn't trip and hurt her stomach even more.

"I love abandoned houses! They have this…mysterious force that keeps pulling me in!" She squealed, "But, please don't tell mom and dad…I don't wanna let anyone know…"

"Why is that?" She opened the door, allowing the younger girl to walk in, followed by Topaz and lastly herself.

"Well…" She chuckled nervously, "It's weird."

"No it isn't." Yang smiled and patted her head gently, "Everyone has their own hobbies. Admiring ruins certainly is not weird."

"Aww Yang! I love you!" Ruby tried to hug her but was stopped by a pair of powerful arms.

"Rubes, stomach, remember?"

"Ah, I'm sorry…"

"Anyway, make yourself home!"

"Okay!"

#

Time passed by so slow – especially when you were waiting for your study session to be over.

Weiss didn't hate them; in fact, she loved them. She got to know more things and it helped a lot for her to be prepared to take over the company one day. Plus, Glynda was a perfect teacher. There was not a single reason for her to dislike the study session with her private tutor.

Had it been another usual day, she would've enjoyed it.

But not today – not when her sister Winter was visiting her.

Presently the heiress was trying her best to force her brain into focusing at the current task, but the sound of the clock ticking on the wall had made her felt uneasy.

Winter had reached the mansion several hours ago but she insisted Weiss finished her study session before meeting up. The heiress truly missed her sister; she had been in Atlas with the military since her last visit around four months ago.

"Thinking about your sister, Miss Schnee?"

"N…no."

"You're so bad at lying." Glynda chuckled.

"…" Weiss' face was red as Ruby's cloak as she turned to another side, unwilling to let the woman witness such embarrassing scene.

"Miss Schnee, it is okay to miss her. After all she's your sister."

The heiress sighed before shaking her head, "I'm sorry. I'll focus."

And after another two hours of torment, Weiss' daily study session was finally over. She had to use _all_ her energy to not jump and squeal in delight.

"I'll see you tomorrow Miss Schnee. Have a good day with your sister." Glynda said as she left.

"Thank you Miss Goodwitch."

The moment the woman stepped out of the front door, Weiss had practically run to her sister's bedroom with a speed that could almost rival Ruby's.

She stood in front of the door, made sure her clothes and hair were fixed before clearing her throat. The moment she was about to knock the door, it opened itself, revealing the tall woman behind it.

Winter Schnee was seven years older than her sister; she also possessed those ivory hair and blue orbs just like Weiss did. She was very tall and had a rather huge bust along with a stern expression.

Which had softened the moment she saw Weiss.

"W…Winter!" Weiss resisted the urge to spread her arms and hug her sister.

"Hello Weiss." Winter however had initiated the hug.

"I miss you…" The heiress whispered, both wrapped up in a tight embrace.

"Me too." The woman smiled.

#

Blake had spent the entire afternoon reading.

There wasn't a single customer the whole day, which she was both happy and upset about.

 _No wonder papa was so stressed. How is he going to keep us fed without mama working?_

She shook her head; she shouldn't feel happy about not having customers at all. She couldn't be so selfish for hoping that there weren't any customers today just because she didn't like to deal with people.

Her mother had a shift in the cafe until six in the evening, so she could only come to take over the shop after that time. Which meant Blake still had around four hours of being alone in here.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the two books she brought in her kitty backpack. At least she wouldn't have to stare at the door for the whole day; she could read.

And reading happened to be her one and only hobby.

#

Another year had passed since then.

Their lifestyle had encountered a drastic change; Blake and Yang had more schoolwork and assignments to focus on so they couldn't hang out in Secret Base much. Ruby was selected to enter a tournament among all the elementary combat schools in Vale, while Weiss had officially started her combat training with Glynda, that taking away most of her free time in the afternoon.

Thus, the four girls barely saw each other anymore.

However, when they had free time, they would definitely pay Secret Base a visit to see if they could run into any members of Team RWBY. Usually it was Blake and Yang bringing their schoolwork there to discuss or study together as both their houses weren't exactly the perfect spot to do so, and that Yang hated the library.

Plus she couldn't leave Topaz alone for very long; they'd miss each other.

Blake had grown taller over the year thanks to the training with Yang. She had decided to enter Signal Academy together with Yang as she was inspired by her to become a huntress too, therefore she requested to train with the blonde.

The blonde had of course happily agreed; she couldn't find anyone to train together due to Ruby being in school getting ready for the tournament 24/7. Blake had told Beatrix about her will to enter a combat school and she had gifted her daughter a set of weapons as an encouragement.

It was a black-colored katana with shiny surface. Beatrix told her that her father crafted it for her. Her father wasn't really good with metal considered he spent his whole life carving woods but somehow he had managed to finish the katana for his daughter.

Blake named it 'Gambol Shroud'.

She often talked about upgrading their weapons with Yang, like how Ruby had forged her scythe together with a sniper rifle (under Qrow's supervising of course). Yang told her that students normally upgrade their weapons when they entered a middle combat school. The teachers there would teach them how to do it - which had made Ruby a genius for getting her weapon upgraded at the age of ten.

Presently only Blake, Yang and Topaz were at Secret Base; Yang was helping Blake with her mathematics homework.

Believe it or not, aside from physical education, the blonde's best subject was mathematics.

When she first told Blake, the Faunus had to spend three whole days to carry out her own investigation to prove that Yang was lying – because there was just _no way_ the blonde would excel in mathematics.

During her investigation she had run into one of Yang's classmate who was also a Faunus – Sun Wukong. He was a monkey Faunus and had really friendly nature, which made Blake's conversation with him much easier. Sun told her that despite that naughty look Yang was actually very good in her academics; in fact she was in the top three of her class.

"And here, you just carry out using the equation from page thirty-three. Blake? Are you listening?"

"Yes. Just…couldn't focus. I'm sorry." Blake apologized.

"Something wrong?" Yang asked.

"No. I just…I was thinking of something."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I was…" Blake hesitated, but ultimately decided that Yang was the best person to talk to, "I was just thinking about us."

"You mean…us? Team RWBY?"

"Mmhmm. I just…don't know until when we can keep this going."

Due to Ruby and Weiss' busy schedule, the last time Team RWBY was complete was around two months ago. Since that day, it was always either Blake and Yang or Ruby and Weiss; they never had the chance to get together as a team again.

"Someday, we will be separated…" Blake continued, her voice getting lower.

"Even if we're separated, we're still friends. Don't worry about that Blakey." Yang smiled, trying to give her reassurance.

But they both still felt really lonely – although the blonde had never showed it.

They hadn't seen their precious little white angel in two months and they missed her very much. Of course they missed little red too, but Blake being her neighbor could easily see her if she really wanted to. She just didn't want to bother Ruby in preparing for the tournament.

"I know, Yang. We made a vow last year, remember?" Blake smiled, "I'm just worried."

"Aww don't worry Blakey, you still have me!" Yang pulled her into a hug, "We're gonna enter Signal together!"

"Ruff ruff!" Topaz barked.

Yang realized his intention and had released the poor girl as she panted for breaths.

"Yang…I swear…someday…you'll…really…kill someone…"

"Sorry kitten." She scratched her head, "Hard to control my strength sometimes…"

Blake simply glared at Yang and the latter had raised both her hands in surrender. It was then the blonde noticed something wrong with her dog.

"Topaz? Are you okay?"

The golden retriever was not as energetic as he was usually. His eyes were dull and his breaths were uneven.

"Are you sick buddy?" Yang gently stroked his fur.

"Ruff!" The dog tried his best to put out a strong bark. Blake frowned; she knew how alike Topaz was with his master – both liked to appear strong to not let people worry. And apparently Yang took that as a good sign as she happily hugged the dog.

Blake's amber eyes got in contact with Topaz's brown ones when the blonde continued to hug him. Her Faunus instinct had sensed something from the dog; something that he was desperately trying to tell her.

He was telling her to take good care of his master.

Blake held back the urge to cry and nodded to him.

 _Thank you._

 _You're welcome._

As soon as Yang released him, he bolted off suddenly, startling her as she fell backwards onto the ground.

"Topaz?!" She quickly got up, "Hey Topaz! Where are you going?"

But the dog ignored her; he just ran straight into the opening and disappeared.

"Topaz!" Yang ran after him but had bumped into something as she was approaching the opening.

And that something happened to be a certain heiress.

"Yang! Watch where you're go-"

Her scolding was cut off when she saw two lines of tears on the blonde's face.

"Out of my way, Weiss!" Yang shouted as she pushed the heiress out of the way and went after Topaz.

"What happened?" Weiss got up as Blake approached, asking if she was fine.

Although she was really happy for finally seeing the heiress after two months, she was in no mood to express it. She had been together with Topaz for two years. They said cats and dogs didn't go well – but two years of friendship had proven it wrong.

"Topaz…he…" Blake stiffened.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Let's go after Yang…I'm worried about her." Blake took off as soon as Weiss nodded.

It wasn't hard to trace where they had run off – the blonde got so emotional that her semblance was activated and there would be a gush of warm air at the place where she had been at.

The two followed the hot air and eventually had reached a familiar place. It was the place where they made their vow last year – Yang's house.

Loud thuds were heard from the inside as the two quickened their pace towards the building. The door wasn't locked and when they pushed it open, the blonde was kneeling in front of the coffee table.

A golden ball of fur was beneath it, lying there lifeless.

They could hear Yang's faint sobbing as she brought Topaz close to her chest and hugged him tight, whispering his name, desperately trying to revive him.

"Yang…" Blake said, her eyes watery too, "Topaz had some last words…"

The blonde turned to face the monochrome pair, giving them a good look of her current expression. Her eyes were red – burning with the flame of anger and grief; two lines of tears were on her cheek, blood on her lips as a result from biting them hard.

"Topaz…he…asked me to take care of you." Blake's cat ears flattened on her scalp; her ribbon had gone off when she was running earlier.

"Why?" Yang released Topaz and stomped to the Faunus, grabbing her shirt tight as she snapped, "Why didn't you tell me earlier? _Why?!_ "

"Yang…" Weiss tried to touch the blonde but was yanked off roughly.

"Belladonna…what more do you know?"

"Topaz…told me that…" She sobbed, "Right before he ran off…"

"Yang, stop! It's not Blake's fault!" Weiss got up from the nasty fall, both hands grabbing Yang's arm tight, "Yang…"

"I know…" The blonde released the Faunus as she fell to the ground kneeling; both arms supporting her upper body, "I know! I know it's not her fault! Because it's my fault!"

"Yang…" Weiss eyed Blake, telling her she got this as the latter nodded.

"It's my fault…" She mumbled.

Weiss touched Yang's shoulder gently, trying to get attention from the crying blonde. She lifted her head and met with the heiress' own watery blue orbs.

 _Yang, it's fine._

She saw the message as she moved slowly towards the heiress, powerful arms wrapping around her back. She then buried her face into Weiss' chest while whispering.

"It…It never occurred to me…that Topaz was…old enough…to die already…" She sobbed, "I should've noticed…I should've…"

"It's not your fault, Yang." Weiss placed gentle stroke on the blonde's head, "Topaz departed peacefully, and he didn't want you to be sad over him."

"It's my fault…my family…left me again…dad…mom…and now Topaz…"

"You still have us, Yang." Blake got near and hugged the both of them, "We'll always be here for you."

"He was so energetic yesterday…it happened so sudden…I should've noticed…what a bad master I am…"

"It's okay Yang, just cry, you'll feel better." Weiss placed a kiss on her head.

"Topaz…Topaz…please come back…I need you…"

They waited patiently for Yang to cry out her grief. After sometime she had cried herself out until she was so tired that she fell asleep. Blake and Weiss helped moved her onto the couch, covering her with a blanket they found nearby.

"Ruby can't know about this." Weiss said when she lifted Topaz's body up; he had already stiffened and was hard to be moved.

"Ruby has the right to know about this!" Blake shouted, but was not loud enough to wake Yang up, "Aside from Yang, she was the closest to Topaz!"

"Ruby has a tournament to focus on. If she knew about Topaz she would lose focus." Weiss tried to answer calmly but her voice was shaking, "We don't have to ability to revive him…but, I think this is what he would've wanted. He would've wanted Ruby to win the tournament and…for Yang to carry on without him."

"Yes…when he told me his last words…I was really…" Blake shook her head, "I've promised him to take good care of Yang."

"I'll have my family arrange for Topaz's funeral." Weiss said as she put down the body and took out a scroll from her pocket.

Blake shot her a questioned look and she noticed.

"Schnees are more capable of you think they are. I wanted to tell you about the new scroll I bought, that's why I came here."

The Faunus simply gave her a pitiful smile.

Weiss returned the smile as she dialed a number.

"George? Please send some men here to pick up Topaz. He's…dead, and I want to prepare a grand funeral for him. Yes, at Yang's place. Yes, thank you."

"I can't believe he's gone…" Blake knelt down to stroke the dog, "It's so sudden…"

"Me neither." Weiss sobbed, "But I guess…he's lived a wonderful life. He brought us so much happiness and he helped Yang went through her most difficult times."

"And we'll help Yang go through this. We should go through this together…as a team."

"After the tournament, Blake." Weiss said, "It's only two days away from now. Let's wait until that time to inform Ruby…"

"Yeah…"

 _Farewell, my friend._

 **#**

 **Topaz…*sobs***

 **I really understand how Yang feels you know. It's been 3 years since my dog died and until today I still can't let go. I will cry like a child whenever I thought of how I found him lying near the drain at the back of my house.**

 **And no, he hadn't died that time. He was half dead so I brought him to a more comfortable place for him to rest. I knew he had not much time left…but I wasn't there for him. I shouldn't have gone to school that day! I should've stayed and be with him for the last time. He died when I was still at school.**

 **My dad buried him without waiting for me and I couldn't even see him for the last time. That's like the most regrettable thing in my entire life. I broke down for so long.**

 **A reminder to all readers…**

 **Cherish something when they're still alive. Because when they are gone, you can never turn back time and that regret will haunt you forever.**

 **Anyway.**

 **Back to the story.**

 **Did anyone get scared by the title of the story that one of the four girls is going to die? Haha. Sorry, I didn't mean it. Just wanna surprise you. XD**

 **Thank you for taking your time to read this series.**

 **Lastly, please support me on Pa/tre/on as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories!**


	10. Chapter 10 - Why does it hurt so much?

**Here ya go.**

 **Please support me on Pa/treon as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories!**

 **#**

 **Chapter 10: Why does it hurt so much?**

"George, can you carry Yang back to my house?" Weiss looked at the tired blonde who fell asleep on the couch after a good cry.

"I can but…why?" George had brought some men to take care of Topaz's body and was now accompanying the three girls.

"I just…don't think it will be a good idea to leave her alone." The heiress looked at Blake.

The Faunus nodded.

"Alright."

#

It was very hard to breathe.

 _Where am I?_

Struggling to open her eyes she saw a familiar figure hopping happily towards her. She knew him – they had been together as family for three years.

It wasn't a long period, but they had built an intimate relationship that could never be replaced.

But as that figure got closer to her, his face gradually became blurry, his body fading away and when Yang dashed forward to hug him, he disappeared completely.

"No…Topaz, _no!_ " She started to cry uncontrollably; her whole body suddenly sank into a deep, dark ocean that was bottomless. She was surrounded by loneliness, despair and no matter how hard she tried to call for help, her voice just stuck in her throat. There was a strong force pulling her down with no mercy; she couldn't struggle out.

 _Somebody…help…_

 _Help me…_

 _..._

 _.._

Then she heard a voice.

An angelic voice calling her, pulling her out of darkness.

"Yang…Yang please wake up!"

 _Wake up? So this is all just a dream then? When I wake up, will Topaz be back?_

"He will come back…right?" Yang opened her eyes as she spoke, her voice hoarse and broken.

The first thing she saw was her crush, sitting beside her with a worried look and slightly watery eyes. Then a black-haired girl with cat ears approached them with a tray on her hands. Her vision was blurry but she could see three cups with steam on it.

"Yang…" Weiss wiped her face with a towel, "Are you alright?"

"Topaz…where is him, Weiss?"

"Yang, Topaz is-"

" _No!_ " She sat up suddenly, grabbing the heiress' shoulder so tight that it resulted a painful yelp from the girl.

"Yang! Stop!" Blake quickly put the tray on the table beside the bed, then rushed to separate them.

"It's fine…" Weiss forced out a smile to the blonde, "It will be alright, Yang."

It melted Yang's heart to see Weiss like this and she instantly released her hands, having to realize that she was hurting the heiress.

Déjà vu.

When they met for the first time, Topaz bit Yang hard too.

She smiled to him and he released the bite, knowing what he had done was wrong.

"Weiss…I'm sorry…" She sobbed, "I…I didn't mean it…"

"It's fine." The heiress then turned to Blake, mouthing 'I'm okay' as the latter nodded.

The girls then offered Yang a cup of tea, trying to calm her down from the shock. Weiss' scroll rang when Blake was cleaning up the cups; it was George and the man told her that they had finished arranging everything.

However, they didn't bury Topaz yet, because they weren't sure if Yang wanted to see him the last time.

"Alright, thank you." The heiress hung up.

"Is everything okay?" Blake frowned.

Weiss nodded, then turned to face Yang as she held her hands, desperately trying to generate heat into those pair of cold limbs.

Yang's normal body heat had disappeared completely; even the heiress who had natural low body temperature was warmer than her.

It broke their hearts to see the cheerful blonde like this; however they had to do this.

They had to tell her the truth.

"Yang, I need you to calm down and listen to me, okay?"

The blonde flinched; she knew what was coming – she knew her dearest family had gone forever.

She just didn't want to face it.

Blake sat beside Weiss and started rubbing soothing circles on Yang's back.

"Yang, Topaz had…gone to a better place." The heiress felt the tremble on Yang's hands.

They didn't say anything then.

They let Yang take her time slowly to adjust her mind and her emotions; they trusted their best friend.

After Dust knew how long, Yang finally gave out a heavy sigh.

"I know."

"Yang…"

"Where is he?"

"I've planned his funeral and got everything we need." Weiss said, "But he's not buried yet, we don't know if you want to see him the last time."

"Where are you burying him?"

"Secret Base."

"Wha-"

"Yang." Weiss stared right into the two lilac pools, "I want Topaz to stay with us even after he's gone. I know he loved Secret Base very much – just like how he loved you and wanted to be by your side even after he was gone."

"…Thanks, princess."

"You're welcome. I'll cover up all the costs so…do you want to…see him? For the last time?"

"Yeah. Let's finish this as fast as possible. He must be really cold out there…"

"No, Yang. You need to rest." Weiss took out her scroll and started dialing a number.

"What?" She looked at Blake.

"It's night time already Yang. Get some rest, we'll take care of Topaz's burial tomorrow."

"But he-"

"It's alright. Topaz won't feel cold."

"Yes he won't." Weiss said after finishing the phone call, then turned to Blake, "Blake, I think you better head back. It's dark already, I'll have George send you back."

"Thanks." The Faunus answered. She gave Yang a final hug before heading out.

"I better go too." Yang said as she shifted herself to the side of the bed, but was stopped by Weiss.

"You're going to stay. I'm not letting you to be alone in your house."

"But-"

"Ah-pup-pup." The heiress raised her hand, "I don't wanna hear it. If I say you stay, then you stay."

Yang's mouth opened slightly, but she said nothing. She knew her friend too well – that Schnee stubbornness wasn't something to be taken lightly.

"Good. Now sleep." Weiss said as she got up, "Good night, Yang."

"Hey."

Weiss came to a halt when she felt a tug on her sleeve. She turned back and saw Yang grabbing her clothes; her head was facing the floor, thus causing the heiress unable to see her expression.

"Please…don't leave me alone…"

"Yang…"

"Stay with me…Weiss…" Yang sniffed, trying really hard to not burst out crying again.

"Okay." The heiress sat on the bed, pulling the blonde to herself for a tight embrace, fingers brushing through her golden locks.

"Thanks…" Unable to control her tears anymore, she buried herself in Weiss' shoulder and sobbed intensely.

"It's okay…it's gonna be okay…" Weiss kept whispering; meanwhile her hands never stopped moving.

"Sorry, Weiss...please…just…bear with me…for tonight…"

"Sssh. How many times have I told you? It's _fine_ Yang. I know you need a shoulder to cry on right now."

"…Pun intended?"

"Nope."

"Right…"

Yang had once again cried herself to sleep. Weiss gently settled her head on the pillow, then realized that Yang was still holding her hand tightly. She tried moving her hand to slip out of that solid grip but evidently failed. Sighing, she decided she would just sleep here for the night, as she didn't want to wake the blonde up.

She used her right hand to carefully release her off-center ponytail, whispered a good night in Yang's ear and proceeded to lie down beside her.

#

Ruby had always been quiet when she was fighting. Sure there were some occasional grunts but they weren't frequent – she would only do that if she lost her calm and confidence in a battle.

And that wasn't a usual thing.

Her skills with that giant scythe-sniper rifle were perfect, plus she had that useful semblance to assist her; a tournament like this was a piece of cake.

However, she couldn't stop that uneasy feeling in her heart.

 _Did something happen to them…?_

"Hyuh!" She jumped into the air by utilizing the massive recoil of her rifle, then spun while bursting into a hurricane of rose petals.

Her opponent was surprised by her sudden change of strategy. Her name was Arslan Altan; Ruby could remember her pretty well because of her fight with Scarlet David. It was the most intense fight in the tournament and Arslan was definitely a strong opponent.

But Ruby wasn't afraid of her.

At all.

She had trained so hard in the past – and she would _not_ waste those efforts.

Arslan had gone into defensive mode, trying hard to catch up with Ruby's eye-blinding speed.

She was rather thankful that Arslan was the quiet type, unlike that Neon Katt who freaking talked the entire match. It had taken all of Ruby's willpower to not get distracted by that rainbow Faunus.

Arslan started channeling her semblance, shifting away from her defensive position for just a second – and Ruby didn't waste that precious time.

She fired a shot at Arslan's right foot, causing her to lose balance for another second.

Which was already enough for Ruby to dash to her.

With a beautiful spun she had knocked her opponent out of the ring.

"And victory goes to Ruby Rose from Vale!"

The crowd cheered upon hearing the announcement.

She would fight the last opponent tomorrow and that match would decide if Ruby was the champion or the runner-up.

The fight with Arslan took way longer than she had expected, thus she went home pretty late. She missed her friends – Weiss, Blake and Yang; she hadn't seen them for over two months already.

"Nolan Porfirio…Vacuo…electric baton…semblance still unknown…" Ruby mumbled to herself on the car.

"Take it easy red." Qrow waved his hand.

"Yes honey, don't worry too much. You can do it!" Summer cheered for her daughter from the passenger seat.

"I…I don't know, mom." She squirmed, "I keep having this strange…uneasy feeling. I barely won Arslan just now…if she wasn't trying to charge up her semblance, I would've been the one losing the fight. Whatever this feeling is…it kept distracting me."

"Are you okay? Are you sick Ruby?" Summer turned to face her.

"No no!" She waved her hands, "I'm totally fine! It's just…you know, the feeling of something bad about to happen…"

"Nah, don't think too much." Qrow took a turn and soon their house was visible.

"Just try to focus on the fight with Nolan tomorrow. But don't stress yourself up alright honey?"

"I'll try to. He looks like a tough opponent…I've seen his fight with Reese Chloris, he's extremely good in close combat! And he has that baton which generates electricity…" Ruby furrowed her eyebrow, recalling the match.

"Just play middle range. It's no use if he can't get you into his baton range." Qrow said.

"Yeah, but he's never even use his semblance…and he already fought up to the top! Honestly I'm a little nervous…"

"Hey hey, where's that huntress Ruby of mine gone to?" The man smirked.

Ruby laughed sheepishly as she got out of the car, still couldn't shake off that uneasy feeling.

When she was about to enter her house after Qrow and Summer, she saw a familiar car slowly approaching Blake's house.

"Mom, dad, I'll be right back!" She shouted as she saw the Faunus coming out of the car.

She waited patiently for the limo to drive off after Blake thanked the driver, then activated her semblance to get to Blake as soon as possible.

"Gah! Ruby?"

"Hiya Blake! It's been a reeeeeeeeally long time! I miss you!" Little red hugged her friend tightly.

"Yeah." She forced a smile, hoping that Ruby wouldn't notice her swollen eyes.

She was still worried about Yang and at the same time sad over Topaz's death. She remembered Weiss reminding her not to let Ruby know about that, so she did her best to cover up her emotions.

"Blake? What's wrong?"

Sometimes Blake really hated Ruby's extremely sharp observation.

"Nothing is wrong, Ruby." She said calmly, her voice wasn't betraying her.

"Stop lying Blake!" Ruby released her and gazed fiercely into her eyes, "What, is, wrong? Did something happen?"

"Ruby, nothing happened. Really."

"I've been having this uneasy feeling ever since the match started today! Are you all okay? Nothing bad happened on you all right?"

"No Ruby." Blake did her best not to let her body language give out the truth.

"Blake, please tell me…"

The Faunus gave out a heavy sigh as her brain worked out a lie.

"Okay. But don't let this affect your match tomorrow. Promise?"

"Yes!" Ruby held out her pinky finger.

"Alright." The Faunus held out hers and took the girl's.

"Tell me!"

"Calm down, Red." She flicked Ruby's forehead lightly, "Yang was injured during the training today."

"Oh no! Is she okay? Is Yang okay?! Did you send her to the hospital? Is-"

"Ruby!" Blake held Ruby's shoulders, "She's fine. Weiss had her family doctor treated Yang, she's perfectly fine."

"I see…" Ruby's tensed shoulder had relaxed as she shook her head, "Tell her to rest well, okay? Oh, is she okay alone in her house? I know Topaz's capable but still…"

Blake flinched upon hearing the dog's name. She bit her lips, trying to erase the image of that lifeless body in her brain.

"Actually, she's staying with Weiss for tonight. By tomorrow she'll be fine. You know, maybe we can watch your fight at the Colosseum."

"But you guys are busy! It's fine, Blake."

"We can't promise, but we'll try."

"Alright then!"

"I'll send your regards to Yang tomorrow."

"Thank you Blake!" She hugged the Faunus, "I better go eat, I'm starving like hell…"

"Sure. Good luck on the match."

Ruby waved her goodbye as they went back to their house respectively.

Blake was genuinely thankful when she entered her house. It had already been a chaotic day for her, and the fact that her parents weren't fighting like they usually did gave her a sense of comfort.

Beatrix was sitting on her favorite chair in the kitchen, obviously waiting for Blake to come home. Judging by the fact that all the lights were off (except for the one in the kitchen), her father must have had gone to bed.

"Blake, are you okay?" Her mother asked.

She thanked her mother silently for not bombarding her with questions like 'where have you been' or 'why did you come home so late'.

"I'm fine."

"Pft. Stop lying kitten. It's your mother that we're talking about here." Her mom smirked, motioning her hand at the chair opposite of her.

She knew that was her way of showing concern, so she obeyed and sat on the chair.

Despite fighting with her father all the time, Beatrix was actually a good mom. Unlike how her name or appearance had suggested, she was rather playful and naughty – and somehow childish too. She was like an adult version of the mix between Ruby and Yang, but without that untainted innocence or that outgoing grin.

Or the tendency to make puns in the most inappropriate time.

But most importantly, her mother did care a lot about her. She loved her daughter.

"Well?"

"It's just…" Blake let out a heavy sigh, "Topaz…Yang's dog, died."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Beatrix's smirk was gone instantly, replaced by an expression that was somewhere between shock and sorrow.

"So am I." She said calmly, "Yang is spending the night in Weiss' house."

"I hope she'll be fine." Her mother smiled, "Although I've never met her, I know that she's a strong girl from how you described her to me."

"I hope so too. She took a pretty large impact. She mentioned something about her parents leaving her…I guess she must be feeling really depressed because her last relative left too…"

"Blake, it's going to be fine." Beatrix held her hands, "Weiss will take good care of her."

Blake didn't know why, but the moment Beatrix mentioned Weiss' name, the image of the heiress hugging the blonde and cuddling with her, whispering comforts in her ear had shown in her brain.

She felt a little pain in her chest but had decided that it was because of the dragon that was usually beaming with energy being so broken.

Or was that not it…?

 _No, I've had this feeling before…_

A bulb had lighten up in her brain all of the sudden as she recalled about everything that had happened in the past two years.

 _Oh Dust…I like Weiss…_

Her eyes widened and tears were formed in them.

 _In a romantic way…_

"Blake?" Her mother called.

"Yes?" She swallowed, trying hard not to think about that.

She felt jealous of Yang.

But she should not feel that way and she knew it.

Yang was in her most vulnerable time – Weiss was simply the best person she could turn to.

Even so, the bitterness that was roaming in her heart now was so true.

"It's okay to cry, honey." Beatrix said, "No one will judge you."

 _No, mom, that's not it…_

She had read so many books – so many romance novels but this was the first time she really had experienced it herself. It was nothing like how the books had described. It was much more painful and real.

Did Yang have romantic feelings for Weiss too?

She then recalled the incident during Ruby's birthday celebration last year – how her eyes had made contact with Yang's when she was stealing glances at Weiss.

She was simply admiring the heiress at that time without thinking much, but now that she was aware of her feelings…maybe she did that because she wanted to look at her…crush.

If Yang did the same thing as her, then it meant that she liked Weiss too.

"Mama, I want to sleep already." She said before her mother could see through her again.

"Sure. Good night, honey."

"Good night."

She buried herself in her fuzzy warm blanket, trying to sort out the situation.

Normally if she had troubles she would've gone to Yang – only she couldn't this time.

Because Yang was involved in it.

But, did Weiss know about their feelings?

If Weiss by any chance knew, would she choose Yang or Blake herself?

 _No…she would definitely go to Yang…_

She closed her eyes, recalling how Weiss had helped her during Topaz's death.

 _Ugh, why am I thinking about this? Yang's one and only family is dead and here I am, thinking about myself!_

She bit her lips until it bled, hating herself for all the selfish thoughts that had been running in her mind since her talk with Beatrix.

Tears started to roll down her cheek against her will as she silently made a decision – one that she always did whenever she was in trouble – running away.

She would just force herself to run away from her feelings until…until the point where she absolutely had nowhere to escape to. Until she had to deal with that, she would just ignore it.

Right, that was the best choice.

Only it couldn't ease the pain in her chest.

 _Why does it hurt so much?_

 **#**

 **I'm really bad at naming chapters. But I need to do it!**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading my story. It's finally chapter 10! Hooray!**

 **If you've got any question, just PM me or leave a review, I take my time to answer the reviews that are…reply-able. That's one of my ways to say thank you to the readers!**

 **I was kind of struggling when I was writing this chapter, haha. It's kinda rushed too.**

 **This wasn't in my draft, in fact after Topaz's death it was a massive time skip – but I felt like it'll be incomplete if I don't focus more on how they cope with Topaz's death so…yeah.**

 **That's all. Thank you again!**

 **Please support me on Pa/treon as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories!**


	11. Chapter 11 - Keep Moving Forward

**I don't know why but I'm feeling nauseas for the whole day. Hopefully I'll be better by tomorrow *cries***

 **Anyway, here you go, chapter 11. Sorry about the title, but I have to.**

 **I have to! *cries harder***

 **Please support me on Pa/treon as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories!**

 **I do not own RWBY.**

 **#**

 **Chapter 11: Keep Moving Forward**

She saw an angel lying beside her when she woke up.

 _What the-_

She blinked, unable to process what was going on – until she recalled the event yesterday – how she had begged the heiress not to go, to stay by her side.

Her sleeping face was kind of cute.

Unlike the normal serious face, when Weiss was sleeping, she looked calm and innocent – one that could trigger people's protectiveness.

And she was resting comfortably on Yang's chest.

The blonde blushed a little before shifting her position so that when the heiress woke up, it wouldn't be so awkward.

However, her attempt failed when she felt Weiss moving.

She pretended to be asleep quickly and soon the weight on her chest was gone. Trying to open her eyes a little she saw Weiss walking to the bathroom, probably cleaning herself up to be ready for the day.

Ah yes, she was supposed to bury Topaz today.

"Topaz…" She whispered, trying so hard to fight back the urge to break down again.

Several minutes later Weiss had emerged from the bathroom looking much neater and fresher. She changed her clothes and was now wearing a black colored skirt that reminded her of her Faunus friend.

"Yang?" The heiress sat down on the bed, trying to wake the blonde up.

"Morning, Weiss." Yang opened her eyes and smiled.

"Morning."

"Sorry for taking your bed…"

"It's alright. How are you feeling?"

"Better. Thanks a lot princess."

"Hush. Go clean yourself up, we're going to Secret Base after breakfast. I've prepared an extra set of towels and toothbrush for you. You can wear my clothes if you wanna change."

"I don't think your clothes will fit on me…" The blonde looked at her prominent muscles.

"Then you can wear Winter's old clothes." The heiress narrowed her eyes, "I think they'll fit."

Yang had heard Weiss mentioning about her sister a few times, but it was just a sentence or two. She didn't really talk about her family much, as they didn't see each other that often. But judging from Weiss' expression whenever she mentioned her sister, they loved each other very much.

"Okay."

#

As they were enjoying breakfast, the doorbell was rang and soon the maid came in with a Blake following behind.

"Morning Blake." Weiss said, "You want some breakfast? I can get the chef to prepare for you."

"It's fine, I've already eaten." The Faunus smiled, then turned to Yang, "Yang, you okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks a lot Blake. And sorry for pushing it all on you." The blonde looked at her guiltily.

Blake just smiled and shook her head.

They didn't take long to finish the food (man that was the most delicious thing Yang had ever eaten in her whole life) and was ready to depart to Secret Base as they moved to the garage.

However, before they could get in the limo, Blake stopped them.

"Guys…" She said, her bow twitching slightly, "I saw Ruby yesterday night."

"Really? How's she doing?" Yang asked impatiently.

"She's fine. In fact, she has emerged to the last match and will be fighting for champion today. The match starts in an hour, actually."

"She's such a badass." Yang shook her head lightly and smiled.

"So…" Blake looked at the both of them, "I was wondering if…we can watch her fight the last match and…perhaps, tell her about Topaz before we bury him?"

Weiss nodded instantly while Yang was hesitating. She didn't want to see Ruby's heartbroken face – aside from cutting her hair, seeing Ruby not being cheerful was the hardest thing to do in the world. It was just depressing to see that ball of pure fluff being sad.

Her eyes met Weiss', and she saw the message that the heiress was trying to convey.

She was encouraging Yang; and as she turned to Blake, amber orbs were telling her the same thing. They all knew about Yang's protectiveness, especially on Ruby, but they thought Ruby should know about big event like this. Leaving her out of the loop wasn't a good idea at all.

"Alright." Yang smiled back at her best friends.

"George." The heiress said as she moved inside the limo, "Take us to the Colosseum first."

"Aye Miss Schnee."

Blake and Yang moved in after her and when everyone had settled down, George ignited the engine, departing to the Colosseum which was located at another end of Vale. The journey would take around an hour so the three of them had let their mind run free before the atmosphere starting to become awkward.

Weiss was sitting at the right side, Blake in the middle and Yang at the left.

The Faunus was the first one to break the silence, as she nudged Yang, catching her attention before telling her something.

"Yang, Ruby knew I was hiding something yesterday."

"What did you tell her?" The blonde turned to face her.

"That you were injured during our training in Secret Base. Play with it if she asked, okay?"

"Sure. Did she ask where I was hurt?"

The Faunus shook her head.

"If the match had already started, we don't have to worry about that." Yang said.

"We might see her before the match. It's better to be prepared." Weiss interrupted their conversation.

"Okay." Blake turned to Yang.

"Just tell her you landed a hard hit on my chest." The blonde shrugged, "There's no way she'll want me to let her see my chest right?"

The monochrome pair nodded.

They didn't say anything for the rest of the journey after that; different thoughts were running in their minds.

Yang was thinking about Topaz – as well as how she literally slept together with Weiss, her crush, on the same bed – _with the heiress' face buried in her chest._

 _Oh Dust. I can still remember that smell of her shampoo…_

She looked out the window to avoid both Blake and Weiss.

Meanwhile, Blake sitting at the center was maintaining her trademark poker face, but inside her mind wouldn't stop thinking about Weiss and Yang.

Weiss on the other hand was occupied with the thoughts of how Ruby would react to Topaz's death. She'd seen the damage it did on Yang and she was scared that Ruby wouldn't be able to take it well.

 _Sighs. It'll be fine I guess. If Yang only took a day to cope with it, I think Ruby will do well. But I can tell Yang's still upset. She's so good at hiding things…and it separates her from us. If only she can be honest and let us help…_

She turned her head slightly so that she could see the blonde, but was met with Blake's own golden orbs.

The Faunus flinched and quickly looked to the front.

 _Was she looking at me?_

The heiress frowned but George's voice had cut off her thoughts.

"Miss Schnee, we're here."

"Thank you George. I'll call you when we're done."

"Aye."

The trio got out of the car and was immediately greeted by a gigantic building with a huge tag 'Colosseum' hanging at the entrance.

It looked like a soccer stadium but instead of a field, the center part was an arena. Audience filled the whole place cheering as clashing of metals could be heard in the arena. Weiss led them to the empty seats she found near the top of the building; they couldn't see the fight directly but the big screen hanging directly on top of the arena enabled them to have a clear view.

There was a red colored object – which they assumed to be Ruby moving rapidly around the boy who was busy defending himself with occasional surprise attacks. They knew Ruby was an excellent fighter – only they had never seen her in action before.

And boy they were amazed. Ruby's movements were flawless; they couldn't even see her figure clearly because of her speed, all they could see were flashes of red.

Ruby leaped up suddenly, both her feet standing on the hilt while firing shots at the boy – whose name was Nolan. He dodged all of her shots by doing beautiful backflips but he didn't see the incoming scythe. Ruby baited him to back down to a corner before utilizing the recoil to practically flew towards him, but as the boy activated his electrical baton to counter her, she leaped above him again and fired shots at him.

He was fully prepared to channel the electricity through her scythe to electrocute her but he wasn't to dodge the high velocity bullets. He was shot twice and a buzz was heard as the audience stood up and cheered.

"The champion of the Elementary Colosseum Tournament goes to Ruby Rose from Vale!"

Ruby landed on the ground gracefully but shortly after that she was bouncing around while shouting inaudible things happily. She didn't forget to shake hands with Nolan before walking out of the area.

She was awarded with a huge golden prize cup and a few vials of various types of Dusts, as well as a handful of liens. Qrow and Summer were with her the whole time when she was being interviewed by the famous host Cyril Ian.

She thanked her parents and teachers at first, but talked about how her best friends had helped her to become what she was today.

"I want to thank Weiss, Blake and Yang! I love you all!"

#

"Hi." The three girls greeted as they stood near the backdoor where Ruby would definitely have to go through to exit the Colosseum.

"Guys! You really came to see me!" Ruby threw both her hands in the air and proceeded to hug them.

"Uh, you stink." Weiss complained, but couldn't hide that smile on her face.

"You can't blame her, that fight was rather intense."

"Good job Rubes!"

"Yang! Are you alright? Blake said you were injured…" Ruby released them quickly.

Yang turned to the two adults behind little red.

"Qrow and Summer…mind if we borrow Ruby for a while?"

Qrow raised an eyebrow while Summer simply nodded and pushed Qrow out of the way, saying that they would be waiting for their daughter at the food court nearby.

"What is it guys?" Ruby tilted her head, "Is there something you need to tell me? Is Yang's injury bad?"

"We should go to a better place to talk." Weiss suggested, then grabbed Ruby's hand and brought her towards a certain direction without waiting for her answer. Blake and Yang followed her closely behind.

They soon reached the outside of the building where a forest came to view. There was no one here so Weiss thought it would be the best place to break the news to her.

"Okay, what's going on?" Ruby crossed her arms.

Yang just bit her lips and looked away, unable to withstand the thought of recalling her dead family as well as telling Ruby about it; Blake looked at the ground guiltily because they had to force her to go from extremely happy of winning the tournament to heartbroken because of Topaz.

In the end, Weiss gave out a heavy sigh as she put both her hands on Ruby's shoulder.

"Ruby, I need you to calm down, okay? Yang is perfectly fine. What I want to tell you is that…"

Ruby gulped, recalling that uneasy feeling she had been experiencing since yesterday. She was happy that none of her friends were hurt, but she knew something was wrong the moment she saw them.

Because a certain dog wasn't together with them.

Yang practically brought Topaz wherever she went, so she thought maybe he was sick or something, so they left him with Roman.

But seeing their faces now made Ruby extremely anxious.

"What happened to Topaz?" She asked.

"He…" Weiss's lips twitched a bit before she closed her eyes, "He passed away yesterday night."

"Sorry, I lied to you." Blake said softly, "Yang wasn't hurt from the training. It was actually Topaz…"

Ruby's face turned from worry to shock, then to horror and lastly grief. She covered her mouth with her hands as tears spilled from her eyes.

She sobbed real hard, knees unable to support her weight as she sat on the ground weeping. Weiss put an arm around her and the bumblebees soon joined them in a group hug.

"How?" Was all Ruby managed to squeeze out.

"Natural causes." Weiss answered, "He died from old age."

"I see…" Ruby eyed Yang and the latter had two lines of tears on her face as well.

"I'm fine, Rubes. Just…I had a breakdown yesterday, but I've recovered mostly." The blonde wiped her eyes with her hand, "Rather than…you know, being depressed over his death…I'd prefer to think that…he's gone to a better place. That'll make it way easier to deal with."

Weiss smiled at Yang's answer; that was rather mature and she admired the blonde's willpower and her ability to handle emotions.

"Before…he's gone…" Blake sniffed, "He told me to take care of Yang."

"That's…so nice…of him…" Ruby forced out a longer sentence.

"We…we've decided to bury him in Secret Base." Weiss said, "That's the place he loved the most and…well, is also the place where he'll be more likely to see us. To see Yang."

"Yeah…"

"We waited for you before burying him, Ruby. Do you want to see him…for the last time?" Weiss asked.

Ruby didn't know if she could handle seeing Topaz without life. She turned to Yang and she nodded in return, silently encouraging her.

"Right…let's do this."

"I'll call George."

#

Qrow and Summer drove Ruby back to their house to let her shower and change into a more comfortable attire, while George followed them. The heiress wanted them to go to Secret Base together as a team.

Ruby was done under half an hour. She waved her parents goodbye, then got on the limo, sitting beside Yang.

George waited for Weiss' order and once she did, he took off towards Dragon Tears Forest.

None of them said anything during the journey; aside from Ruby's silent sobs and Yang stubbornly fighting back tears which resulted her in making some weird noises.

When they had reached the forest, their feet automatically moved as they walked on that familiar path which Topaz had been leading them through for a year before they could remember it.

In a few minutes they had reached Secret Base and two men in black suit were waiting for them. There was a marvelous coffin in between them and they knew too well who was inside it.

"Go, Yang." Weiss said. She felt that it would only be appropriate if Yang was both the first and the last to see him, as she was his family.

"I…I don't know if I can do this…" The blonde gulped.

"You can, Yang. You can." Weiss held her hand and she grabbed back in reflex.

"Yes Yang, you can do it." Blake put her hand on the blonde's back as a show of encouragement.

"Let's do it together." Ruby suddenly said as she grabbed Yang's other hand. Weiss wanted to tell her about her opinion but stopped when she sensed Yang nodding her head.

"Let's go together. I can do it if you guys are with me." The blonde tightened her grips on both hands.

"We're a team and we're best friends. We can do it if we're together." Ruby stepped out, leading the rest together with her.

The men opened the coffin and Topaz was lying there, lifeless.

"Dust…" Yang closed her eyes as the tears she had been holding all the time started to spill.

"Topaz…" Ruby sniffed.

"Bon voyage, buddy. We, Team RWBY will forever miss you. Rest in peace, Topaz." Yang announced and nodded to the men. They nodded back and gently put the coffin into a hole that they had dug in advance.

#

Ruby had suggested them to have a sleepover at her place. She wanted them to have a warm night together to counter the cold that they had been experiencing since Topaz's death.

Weiss sent George back to the Schnee mansion and told him that she would call him when she needed to go back. The man smiled and nodded before going back.

Qrow and Summer had heard about the event as they welcomed them with open arms.

Presently it was five in the evening. Summer was cooking in the kitchen with Ruby and Blake helping her (they wouldn't let Yang cook because she would probably destroy the whole place and Weiss had no experience at all having chefs in her house) while Qrow was hanging out with the remaining girls in the living room.

"Hey girls, come play this game with me." Qrow said as he took out his scroll, "It's my favorite game. Ruby would usually play it with me when she's not happy about something so…wanna try out?"

"We don't have a scroll Qrow." Yang answered casually.

"I have one, actually." Weiss took out her scroll.

"Wow, Schnees are really scary…"

"Hush."

"Alright firecracker, you take Summer's." Qrow handed her a scroll, "It's easy to control. I'll play it with ice queen-"

"Hey!"

"-for the first round, just observe how we press."

A screen suddenly appeared on the wall with a sentence written in fancy alphabets 'Kung Fu Ninja Slayer Ultimate Jet Battle 2.'

"Fighting game? Really?" Yang said sarcastically.

"Believe it or not," Qrow said as the game started, "Ruby learned certain moves from this game."

Weiss didn't say anything; instead she was concentrating on defeating the man.

At exactly thirty seconds later, an announcement of 'Soaring ninja wins! Total annihilation!' was heard, followed by a certain heiress' whimper.

"You play with ice queen first, I'll get you girls some whole milk." Qrow stood up from the couch and head to the kitchen.

"Milk, blegh!" Weiss made a disgusted face.

"Milk is awesome Weiss. Maybe you should drink more to…you know, grow up properly." Yang said as the game started after the announcement of 'New challenger!'.

" _Yang Xiao Long._ "

Apparently it was a tradition of the Branwen-Rose household to serve whole milk and play ninja games whenever somebody was sick or unhappy.

It was near seven-thirty when dinner was finally ready. The group started to eat after thanking Ruby and her parents – and shortly after that, the whole kitchen was filled with praises and awe on how delicious Summer's cooking was.

After a warm dinner, they went out to the front yard for star gazing. And perhaps in the middle of a city wasn't a good place to do so, but they were far too tired to go to Secret Base.

"Hey." Qrow who was sitting beside Summer said, gaining all of their attentions.

"Yes?"

"What is it dad?"

"Yes Qrow?"

"What is it?"

The girls answered together.

"You know, about Topaz." The man smiled gently, "You couldn't change anything even if you turn back time. He's had a good life before passing away and that's all that mattered. All good things come to an end, and Topaz was the best, therefore he was gone earlier than most people."

Yang smiled faintly, listening to the man praising her family. The other girls nodded and he went on while lifting his face to gaze at the night sky.

"Summer and I are professional huntsmen. We encountered death almost everyday as long as we're out in the field. Like it or not, a friend that we just met today could end up dying tomorrow. At first it was hard." He closed his eyes, "And even after all this time, we've never got used to seeing people die, but we've learnt something. We've learnt that there's nothing we can do if we sink ourselves in grief and sadness all the time, and what we can do is to keep moving forward with their wills."

"Yes." Summer smiled, "We need to move on and never stopped moving forward. For the ones that love us and the ones that we love."

"Thank you." Yang whispered to them.

 _And thank you too, Topaz. Thank you for everything._

 **#**

 **Man, it's really hard to shift between happy moments and sad moments.**

 **Anyway, that was all for this chapter. Thank you for reading!**

 **When I write Qrow talking, I** ** _always_** **imagine him talking in his real voice in the show. If it doesn't fit, I'll change it until it fits. That's a habit of mine. XD.**

 **Of course other characters too, but my brain can imagine Qrow's voice the best (Sorry RWBY!)**

 **Did anyone get the references? Haha.**

 **That's all. Thank you again!**

 **Please support me on Pa/treon as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories!**


	12. Chapter 12 - We Will Meet Again-

**(The chapter name was too long it wouldn't fit so I put '-')**

 **Hello again. First of all, let me warn you first:**

 **It's not always happy, so be prepared.**

 **Second of all, thank you for sticking with me up until chapter 12!**

 **Third of all, I've drawn a rough sketch of how Secret Base looks like in my FB page (name is "IBurn 'Tank' RWBY Fanfic Author") so if you wanna take a look feel free to!**

 **There's gonna be a time skip again this chapter, and yes the title is based on the song 'Secret Base kimi ga kureta mono' from Anohana. This whole fic is based on that anyway. Teehee.**

 **Okay, that's all.**

 **Please support me on Pa/treon as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories!**

 **I do not own RWBY.**

 **#**

 **Chapter 12: We Will Meet Again in August Ten Years Later**

Another year had passed since Topaz's death. The girls were now thirteen – except for a certain little red who was two years younger of course.

Yang had been living alone in that abandoned house after Topaz was gone, even though her stepdad Roman had suggested her to adopt another dog, but she insisted that Topaz wasn't just a pet – he was family, and that he could never be replaced. Roman respected her decision so he never talked about it anymore.

Blake still lived with her parents and was getting ready to enter Signal Academy. She too was aiming for the scholarship because her father's shop wasn't getting any better throughout the year. The one and only good thing that happened was that her parents' arguments had reduced significantly. Blake didn't know why, but she didn't feel the need to – as long as they stop arguing, it would already make her really happy.

Weiss had improved on her battle skills a lot over the year. She could already summon different types of glyphs with ease; however she must do it using her weapon, which was a beautiful rapier with revolving Dusts chamber. She named it 'Myrtenaster'. The only two problems she encountered though, were 'Time Dilation' and 'Summoning'. She still couldn't master them after all those hard efforts she paid; but she wasn't going to give up. She was a Schnee after all.

As for Ruby, nothing much had changed, except for the fact that she visited Yang a lot and even had sleepovers pretty often, as she was free after the tournament. She wanted to keep the girl accompanied with Topaz's absence, and Yang didn't mind having her over at all. They saw each other as sisters already basically; sometimes Ruby would invite her over to her house and she would happily oblige.

They still hung out in Secret Base, and most of the time it was Ruby, Blake and Yang as Weiss still had to attend the extra combat classes.

And even though they didn't get to see Weiss much, they still missed her a lot.

Especially the black and the yellow.

They would do their best to occasionally pay the heiress a surprise visit, or the heiress herself would show up in Secret Base all of a sudden to see her best friends.

She wasn't actually that busy now, so she would at least see her friends once or twice a week.

Blake and Yang had sent in application for the scholarships and they would get the result during early October. It was presently August, so they still had two months time to wait.

They had graduated from the elementary school last month, thus having much more free time to accompany each other in Secret Base.

"Man, it's _really_ hot." Yang leaned back a little, using both her arms to support her weight. She was wearing her trademark orange colored tank top and was covered in sweats.

"I know right…" Ruby sat beside her, currently fanning herself in a dramatic way.

"Ugh…" Blake's cat ears were flattened on her scalp. She took her ribbon off, unable to withstand the heat.

The three of them were now sitting on the green grass just beside those huge rocks facing the lake. Yang had suggested swimming inside the lake but Blake absolutely despised water. Both Ruby and Yang didn't want to leave their friend alone so they had stayed on the land with her.

"Where's the ice queen when you need her?" Yang lied down on the ground while spreading her arms and was immediately greeted by a shade along with a white colored object.

 _What._

She turned aside and saw both her friends sharing the same amusing expression.

" _What on Remnant do you think you're doing Yang Xiao Long?!_ " The white colored object moved away in a flash, revealing a very angry Weiss Schnee.

Hold on.

That was-

Ruby and Blake both gave her a look that either said 'rest in peace' or 'we'll miss you'; no matter which one was it, it would be no good.

Because that white colored object apparently was Weiss' panties.

They were too concentrated on dealing with the heat they did not notice a certain heiress arriving at Secret Base – even if she stood directly behind them.

Yang blushed so hard the shade on her cheek could rival Ruby's cloak. She quickly got up and held up both hands beside her head as a sign of surrender while mumbling apologies to the furious heiress.

After twenty minutes of screaming and yelling and begging, they had successfully calmed Weiss down before she went freezing the whole place with her ice.

But they would be really happy if she did so, because the temperature was killing them too.

"Weiss, I'm really sorry, I didn't notice you!" Yang squeaked in a strange tone.

Presently she was kneeling on the ground like a child got caught stealing candies, with a certain heiress standing in front of her while the other two trying to stop Weiss from killing her.

"Weiss, she really didn't mean it. Even I didn't notice you coming. You know, with my Faunus hearing…" Blake said.

"Yeah! It's only panties Weiss, we all wear it too, it's no big deal!"

"Ruby, you're not helping."

"But-"

"Stop it, both of you." Weiss scowled. She then took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh as she exhaled.

"Sorry, Weiss…"

"It's fine, I know you didn't mean it." The heiress crossed her arms and looked away from them. "I was just too embarrassed. Sorry for snapping at you."

She seriously had considered to wear pants instead of dresses from now on.

"Oh thank Dust." Yang's tensed shoulders relaxed as she tried to get up, but collapsed back down because her legs were numb.

"Yang!" All three of her friends shouted in unison.

"I'm fine! Just need a while, don't worry about me." She grinned.

They then settled down as Weiss offered to support them financially to study in Signal Academy as both Blake and Yang couldn't afford the fee. She said she was going to study there too, but she would be taking economy and business classes mainly.

Signal Academy offered a very wide scope of subjects for the students to choose; huntsman training being the most popular, followed by history and studies of Grimm and lastly the business classes. Weiss thought it would be a good experience for her as she needed to learn to socialize too while studying for her future job.

She was home-schooled all this time because her parents were afraid that she would be in danger in school if she had no combat experience. Being the heiress of the biggest company in the world also meant she would have to deal with jealous business rivals or terrorists, so they made sure she was combat ready before letting her to attend public schools.

Glynda had approved her fighting skills, so the Schnee couple had agreed on letting Weiss study in Signal Academy.

"Thanks princess, but it's fine." Yang politely refused the idea.

"Yes Weiss, we can handle it. We've applied for the scholarships." Blake shook her head too.

"There's no guarantee you'll get it." Weiss expressed her points calmly, "My family can afford both your fees."

"It's really fine, Weiss." The blonde smiled gently, "Blake and me aced that exam. I'm pretty sure we can get it."

"If you say so." The heiress nodded, "But if you do need help, don't hesitate to come to me."

"Of course." Blake nodded too.

Ruby who had been quiet the whole time suddenly spoke up.

"Once you guys entered Signal…we won't be seeing each other that much already…"

Indeed, Signal Academy was located in a small island named Patch which would require the use of airship to get there – they would end up living in the dorms and wouldn't be able to come back to Secret Base frequently.

And that left their precious team leader alone in this place.

"Awww Rubes…" Yang wanted to give the girl a tight hug, but both instantly let go of each other upon contact.

It was too hot. Hugging in this insane temperature was a really bad idea.

"Anyway, don't worry Ruby." Weiss smiled, "I can get you a scroll. We can contact each other every night."

"Aww thank you Weiss!" Ruby tackled the heiress to hug her.

Both Blake and Yang had a subtle change in their expressions seeing Ruby being so close to the girl they loved.

 _C'mon, Rubes and princess are best friends. What kind of friend am I to get jealous at this? Argh, stupid Yang!_

 _I shouldn't feel jealous because Ruby hugs her. I shouldn't be thinking like this at all._

"Ugh…so…hot…" She released Weiss immediately and rolled to a side, spreading her limbs out, "Don't wanna hug…I'm melting…"

"Of course, you dolt! Why did you hug me in the first place? The weather is seriously killing me."

"Is there any method to lower the temperature other than pissing Weiss off and let her freeze us?" Yang turned to look at Ruby and Blake.

"Hey!"

"Oh I know! Rubes lets swim! Weiss can't swim so she can stay on the land to keep Blakey accompanied!" Her lilac orbs instantly beamed as she caught silver ones.

"Excuse you?!"

#

By the time the red and the yellow got up from the lake, it was already evening. Both had a satisfied smile on their face as they approaching the scowling heiress and the melted cat.

"Sup girls?" The blonde smirked.

"Hmph." Weiss turned to a side.

"Ruby, Yang." Blake's ears twitched a bit before she continued her sentence, "Weiss and I looked up some info on her scroll while you guys were in the lake."

"U-huh."

"There will be a summer festival tonight being held near Vale River. Apparently there'll be fireworks too. Weiss and me are wondering if you guys wanna-"

"Oh yes!"

"Of course!"

Ruby and Yang shouted at the same time.

"Oh boy! I've never been to a summer festival before! I'm so excited!" The younger girl jumped while throwing her hands up.

"Me neither! Let's go! You two are going too right?" The blonde asked.

The monochrome pair nodded.

"Yay! I can't wait! Oh, let's go home now and get ready so that we can reach there as soon as possible!"

With that, Ruby had burst into rose petals as she dashed out of Secret Base.

"She's such a child…" Weiss sighed.

"Well, she's eleven." Yang shrugged.

"She's just two years younger than us guys." Blake said.

"Anyway, we better get going." The heiress moved first, followed by the other two, "See you guys at eight near the Beowolf Bridge."

#

Yang was the first one to arrive.

For the first time in forever.

She leaned against the bridge casually; she wore a yellow T-shirt with the words 'This person is pun-tastic' printed in black on it and a short of the same color, unlike the many people around her who were properly dressed for the occasion.

It was around seven forty-five and the Vale River side had already been occupied by different stalls and a massive crowd of people.

"Yang!"

She heard that high-pitched voice and turned to the little red who was running to her while waving her hand with a Blake following behind.

Ruby wore her usual outfits while Blake had worn an oversized black T-shirt with tight pants.

"Wow, princess' the last one to arrive, that's rare." She smirked.

"You're the first one to arrive and that's even rarer." Blake imitated her actions.

"I always have reasons when I'm late okay!"

"And it's always your hair." Ruby was on the Faunus' side.

"Ugh."

"Sorry I'm late."

They turned to the source of the voice – and saw an angel.

Weiss Schnee was in a white and blue themed yukata.

 _Holy Dust!_

Yang's jaw dropped. Literally.

Blake was better at maintaining her poker face but inside she was absolutely blushing uncontrollably.

"Wow Weiss, you look so beautiful!" Ruby said as she used up all her willpower to resist the urge of hugging the heiress – she didn't want to mess up her clothes.

"Thank you." Weiss said with a pink shade on her cheek.

It took Yang exactly thirty seconds to remember that she still need to breathe.

"You…ah, you look really g-gorgeous, princess." She said, stubbornly avoiding eye contact with Weiss.

"Yes Weiss, you're really pretty in a yukata." Blake continued after her.

"T-Thanks."

"Hey, let's go and explore this place!" Ruby noticed Yang was losing control of herself so she quickly changed the subject.

The others agreed and soon they were hopping here and there, enjoying themselves in the wonder of the summer festival.

Because they all had absolutely no experience of joining the summer festival (Weiss' yukata was suggested by the maids in her house), they had decided that the four of them would take turn to suggest a booth to visit.

Ruby was the first and she, of course, had suggested visiting stalls that smelled sweet – cotton candy, choco banana, candy apples – they had basically tried every type of sweets in the festival.

Weiss was genuinely worried that Ruby might get a toothache or even diabetes someday in the future, judging from the amount of sugar she consumed.

But Ruby had assured them that it was fine, for she brushed her teeth pretty often and often had to train so the extra energy would be consumed (although Weiss wasn't convinced by that, since she was always so hyperactive).

Yang was the second one to lead the team so she had chosen shaved ice with syrup. Since it was really hot, a little ice would help them cool down _a lot._ Plus, she couldn't spend too much liens on the festival – she needed them to keep her stomach full.

Then it was Blake, and they had gone to play different kinds of games.

They chose a game called 'Whack-a-Grimm' first. The booth owner provided them with a hammer, which they had to swing as hard as possible at the fake Grimm that was standing in front of them. It was made of extremely durable material and there was a strength meter set on it to estimate the power level.

The higher the level was, the better the prize.

Yang had suggested making it a competition and of course, she aced it.

She was rewarded with a huge Beowolf plushie.

Unsatisfied that Yang beat them in the game, Weiss had suggested playing another one – a target shooting game. She was pretty confident she could beat that smug look on her face in this, because there was just no way this clumsy blonde could shoot.

Which turned out to be wrong.

The first place was taken by Ruby of course, considering her crazy skill with Crescent Rose. Blake was the runner up and Yang _had more scores than herself._

She gave Weiss a smug looked and the heiress scowled back.

 _Is there anything she's bad at?_

Her attention was then drawn by a colorful booth with the name 'How fast can you count the Grimm?'.

 _Hah, Math is my thing. You're sure to lose this time blondie!_

Her eyes caught Blake's and she motioned towards that particular booth. What she didn't expect was the Faunus shaking her head. She mouthed a 'what?' and walked near her so they she could whisper.

"Yang's winning me in all the games. I want to beat her!" She looked at Yang who was happily sharing the plushie with Ruby, both chatting about something they couldn't hear.

"No Weiss, don't. She'll destroy you in that game." Blake whispered back.

"What? Don't be ridiculous!" She put one hand on her waist and the other one pointed at the blonde, "Yang Xiao Long, I challenge you to that game!"

Her index finger moved towards that booth as both Ruby and Yang's sight followed it.

"Heh, you sure, princess?"

"Of course! I will totally knock you out, you arrogant oaf!"

"Uh, okay."

After ten minutes, Weiss was practically crying.

She couldn't believe that giant dolt was a genius in mathematics – she was like a human calculator. Blake was right about that, for Yang had _totally_ destroyed her in the game; even the booth owner had to beg her to stop so that he wouldn't lose all his prizes to one single person.

"It's okay Weiss." The Faunus rubbed the heiress' back, "I couldn't believe it at first too. Took me three days time…"

"I think we're done with playing games." Weiss sighed.

"Actually, there's one more I want to try…"

The gang followed Blake's sight to a booth near the 'Whack-a-Grimm' one.

It was a goldfish scooping game.

"Blake no-"

#

Weiss' scroll rang all of a sudden.

She calmly took it out, shut it off and turned back to her friends.

"Let's go."

"What?" The three of them answered in unison.

"The firework is starting in ten minutes time, we need to find a good spot."

"Oh!" Ruby exclaimed, "Yes yes, let's go!"

After some searching they had found a perfect spot just beside Beowolf Bridge. The ground there was higher so it provided them with a clearer view of the opposite side of Vale River; plus it was pretty far away from where the booths were being set up, so there weren't many people here.

They sat on the grass, waited patiently for the fireworks to begin.

As Ruby was about to complain after a few minutes, they saw Blake's ribbon twitching and immediately knew it was coming.

A green colored light had shot up the sky, then followed by a red and blue one. As they reached the peak, a loud boom was heard and they had bloomed into a beautiful shape together before disappearing.

The girls couldn't contain their happiness; even the heiress who was usually modest was squirming with excitement. This wasn't just the first time they had seen a firework – it was also the first time they had done it together with the most important people in their lives.

The second one was up; it was a logo of the Vale kingdom in seven different colors of the rainbow. It continued for a while before finally coming to an end. The last one was words saying 'Happy Summer Festival' in red, orange and yellow.

"This is so nice!" Ruby was the first to shout.

"Yeah, why didn't we know of this festival sooner?!" Yang followed her.

"It was a little loud but…I guess it was nice." Blake smiled, happy for the fact that she got to do this together with her friends…and also her crush. She kept stealing glances at Weiss' smiling face – it was so cute that it could melt hearts.

"Let's come back again another year." Weiss smiled, "This event is annual. Let's come here together as a team."

"We'll be getting real busy after enrolling in a combat school." Yang said, "But we'll try to make it."

"We will definitely meet each other again in August. Even ten years later!" Ruby turned to face her friends.

"Yes Ruby, we will." Weiss said.

"Promise, okay?" The girl held out her hand.

"Promise." The other girls said while putting their hands on top of each other's respectively.

"We'll be friends forever, and no matter if it is school or combat training, it shall never separate us! The time limit is ten years from now on, within that time, we must gather here to watch fireworks again! As the whole team! Not even one can be excused!" Ruby declared, "All in favor of meeting again in August ten years later, say aye?"

"Yes! I love it when we're all feisty!"

"We will definitely come back to this place."

"It won't take that long."

"None of you said aye…"

 **#**

 **Hooray! Friendship blooming!**

 **There's not much I want to say, aside from a lot of thank you to you readers.**

 **I have a hard time trying to imagine Weiss in a yukata. Had to google Mojojoj's artwork to play the scene in my brain in order to write this chapter.**

 **And Weiss' panties are definitely white colored. It's my headcanon!**

 **Again, I've drawn a rough sketch of how Secret Base looks like and will post it in FB page after I publish this chapter. If you wanna take a look, feel free to. My FB page is "IBurn 'Tank' RWBY Fanfic Author".**

 **Thank you!**

 **Please support me on Pa/treon as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories!**

 **I do not own RWBY.**


	13. Chapter 13 - A Date?

**I have totally no idea how to name this chapter so I'll just randomly write something related.**

 **I'm not even sorry.**

 **Please support me on Pa-treon as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories!**

 **I do not own RWBY.**

 **#**

 **Chapter 13: A Date?**

Qrow and Summer came to pick up the black and the red after the festival was over. It was pretty late in the night; the four girls could barely keep their eyes open.

Weiss' house was further from the Vale River so Yang had offered to accompany her to wait for George. She didn't want the heiress to be alone, anyway. It wasn't like she enjoyed being alone with her crush, or that she wanted to desperately ogle her more because it wasn't everyday you see the heiress wearing a yukata.

Nope, definitely not.

The blonde had to walk back to Dragon Tears Forest on her feet but she didn't tell Weiss that – she knew that kind hearted heiress would offer to give her a ride. She welcomed the idea very much as she was really sleepy, but she didn't want Weiss to arrive home late because of her. She wanted her to get more rest.

After that grey colored sedan disappeared from their sight, the atmosphere had become really awkward.

Weiss wasn't a talkative girl and Yang was too nervous to bring up a topic, so both just stood near the Beowolf Bridge silently waiting for George.

"Hey…" A moment later, the blonde finally had gathered enough courage to speak.

Weiss turned to her.

"I was wondering…y'know, since it's Sunday tomorrow…do you wanna…y'know, go hang out somewhere?" Yang kept touching the back of her neck with her hand – it was an action that she always did whenever she was nervous about something.

"Why didn't you bring this up earlier? It's hard to contact them now." The heiress said.

"Blake's usually busy on Sunday. Y'know, helping her parents…or things like that. And Rubes' gonna be with her parents…Sunday's their family day. So that left…the both of us." Yang tried her best to form a proper sentence in her brain, "So…since we uh…won't have much to do in Secret Base, I was just wondering if you wanna hang out somewhere else. We've never really gone to a mall together before…right?"

Weiss mouthed an 'ah' – she had never really known about Ruby or Blake's schedule on a Sunday. All she knew was that they both won't be at Secret Base on that day and she didn't question much, because she wanted to respect their privacy.

Now she knew why.

"Calm down you dolt. Why are you so nervous? I won't eat you if you're just going to ask me to hang out in a mall." The heiress huffed.

"Sorry…"

"Am I really that scary?"

 _That's not it Weiss. You'll never understand!_

"Nope. Totally not scary, princess."

Weiss scowled.

"So…is that a yes or…?"

The heiress hesitated for a while and nodded after that.

"Time and place?"

"Uh…actually the stuff in a mall is pretty expensive…now that I think about it…" Yang put her fingers on her chin, "Let's just go to the central shopping district and…y'know, walk around, window shop."

"Sure. Is nine in the morning fine?"

"Yep. Where do we meet?" Yang asked; she seriously wished she could be accepted into Signal now – she really wanted a scroll. It was _so_ inconvenient without one. If they didn't discuss about the meeting location in detail, then they would've to search the entire shopping district and hope to eventually bump into each other.

It was nice for Weiss to get a scroll that early.

 _Praise the Schnees._

"There's a Dust shop near the entrance of the central shopping district. If I'm not mistaken, it's called 'From Dust Till Dawn'. Let's meet there. And don't be late."

"I will do my best, milady." Yang faked a knight salute.

"You oaf."

Honk!

"George's here. Go, Weiss."

"No, you're coming with me."

"What? No, I'll catch a bus."

The heiress narrowed her eyes.

"Don't try to fool me, little dragon. The bus service stopped an hour ago and will only start in another four hours."

"I can catch a cab. Don't worry about me, just go back and rest."

"No offense, but I don't think you have excess lien to catch a cab. Seriously the cab service is too overpriced these days, it's not worth it. Just come, Yang. Stop being so stubborn."

"…Okay then."

Both of them got on the limo as Weiss asked George to send Yang back home. The blonde silently blamed herself for not having enough lien to go back on her own and instead needed to trouble her friend to give her a ride.

"Stop blaming yourself you yellow oaf." Weiss who was sitting beside her said suddenly.

And that sent a chill down the blonde's spine.

"Please, your tendency to blame yourself has never changed ever since the first time we met. You still do that now. And it's easy to see through you." The heiress gazed into lilac pools.

Yang gulped.

"Yang, if you have any trouble and need help, you can just ask. We're your friend, we won't judge you." Weiss said, concerned.

 _The only thing that is troubling me is you Weiss! How can I possibly tell you that?!_

Seeing the blonde didn't try to say anything, Weiss continued.

"Is it about your mother? Or…Topaz?"

Silence.

"Yang, you really should stop bottling everything up inside you. I know you want to be strong and protect the rest of us, but we want to protect you too. So if-"

"Weiss."

The heiress scowled a little because of Yang's sudden interruption, but the glare had softened when she saw the expression on the blonde's face.

"Yes?"

"I…" She paused a while, "I was just thinking about us."

Yang remembered Blake saying that to her last year…during the day that Topaz died. She didn't understand why the Faunus brought up that topic back then, but now…she could.

If the thin line between friendship and love was being crossed, then it would only bring two outcomes – from friends to strangers, or friends to lovers.

There was no in between.

And Yang absolutely didn't want to lose the heiress – over the year she had fallen in love with her more and more, almost until the point that she dreamed about her every night. She wanted to hold her hand and kissed her; whispered good morning and good night to her every day in her ears; hold her in her arms when she was sad and kissed her on the lips when she was happy.

Thus, the mighty Yang Xiao Long backed off every single time she had the chance to confess. She didn't know if Weiss would like her back; if she didn't, then the outcome would very likely to be the first one.

She also somehow noticed that Blake had an eye on the heiress too, and between the Faunus and Yang, Weiss would most likely go for the former. They were close and shared a lot of similarities anyway, while Yang and Weiss were…polar opposite.

If Weiss was happy with Blake, then Yang would gladly back off even if she would be really hurt – as long as the girl she loved was happy, then whatever happened to her didn't matter.

That was the initial thought, however, because Yang heard a voice in her heart that kept asking her to take Weiss away from Blake with force, that she should fight for her own sake for the love of her life – and she despised herself for having thoughts like that.

Love was something that came naturally; it couldn't be forced.

The closer she was to the heiress, the more painful she felt.

"Us? You mean Team RWBY?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah."

"What about it?"

"We...had made many promises about staying as friends forever. But…will we really be…always together?" Her voice was fragile, "You know, we will eventually grow up. We will be separated. Things will happen and…I'm afraid to lose the most precious people in my life."

 _To lose the most precious princess that I loved so dearly._

"As long as we want to be together, we'll always be, even if we're in different places." Weiss answered. "You see, Winter and I…although we don't see each other often, but we do love each other very much. I guess it's pretty much like that with our situation. Distance doesn't separate friendship, Yang. Only the will to not stay as friends does."

"That's really out of character for you…" Yang smiled faintly.

"Hmph." The heiress crossed her arms and looked away.

"But, thanks a lot princess. That really made me feels better."

"You're not welcome." She said, still not looking at Yang.

They didn't say anything after that. The distance between Vale River and Dragon Tears Forest was pretty far, plus it was nighttime so George drove a little slower than usual to ensure nothing bad would happen.

Yang was thinking about the date tomorrow while looking out of the window.

 _It's a date, right?_

She was debating whether the date tomorrow was really a date or not when she felt a weight on her shoulder.

Weiss had fallen asleep and was comfortably leaning her head on Yang's shoulder.

The blonde blushed slightly, trying her best to not move to avoid waking up the heiress.

 _If only…time will stop like this forever…_

#

The alarm rang exactly at seven in the morning.

Yang got up quickly and shut it off, then dashed to the bathroom to get ready. It was her first time hanging out with the heiress alone, so she didn't want to look bad nor arrive late.

After spending around an hour on her appearance (half an hour was on her hair), she picked the best shirt she had in that old wardrobe near the door.

She debated whether to wear dresses or not, but had ultimately decided against it. Instead, she took an orange colored T-shirt with design that could bring out her figure perfectly (emphasize on the chest that had grown rapidly when she turned thirteen) and a pair of ripped jeans. She turned her gauntlet into its bracelet form and wore it on her wrists – they matched her outfit pretty nicely.

The clock showed eight at the moment, so she grabbed her wallet and stuffed it into her pocket then walked towards the entrance.

There was only one bus that would take her to the central shopping district at precisely eight-fifteen. If she missed that one, she would have to wait for another hour.

Or she could run there.

It was sharp nine when she had reached 'From Dust Till Dawn'. A certain heiress was already standing there, holding a white-colored purse with both hands. She wore an elegant white dress with yellow colored frills and the Schnee logo printed at the back.

 _Wow._

The last time Weiss wore casual clothes was the day before she started her combat training. Ever since then, wherever she went, she would be in her combat outfit – although it was still a dress, it looked stern and professional, unlike the one she was wearing now.

Put a pair of white wings on her back, and she would totally live up to the nickname that Yang secretly called her in her mind – the snow angel.

"You're late." The heiress scowled when she saw Yang.

"What? I arrived at nine, so it's not." The blonde walked towards her while waving with one hand, the other inside her pocket.

"You're the one that asked me out, so if you arrive later than me, then you're late." Weiss huffed.

"Princess logic." Yang grinned.

"Stop calling me that!"

"A-anyway." The blonde scratched the back of her neck, "Let's go?"

"Sure."

They strolled down the crowded shopping district with Yang leading the way. Almost every shop was open and many couples had chosen the weekend to come out for a date. Therefore, most of the people around them were holding hands.

Yang felt a little jealous.

She wanted to grab the heiress' hand too.

"Yang." Weiss called her.

"Yeah?"

"I want to take a look at that." The heiress pointed towards an arcade center.

"Wow, Weiss Schnee playing in an arcade center!" Yang exclaimed.

"S-shut up you dunce!" Weiss' face turned red. "I…I've never been to places like this before so I want to…"

"You've never been to a shopping district before?" Yang tilted her head, but she didn't make fun of the heiress.

"Y…yes. I was home schooled all my life, what can you expect? The furthest place I've ever gone to aside from the front yard of my house…was Secret Base."

"And the Colosseum. Y'know, watch Ruby fight?"

"That too."

"Anyway, let's go. Time to show you the world!" Yang grinned, walking towards the arcade.

Weiss half stomped there following her. The blonde had held the door open to allow her in, and once she stepped inside, she was greeted by blasting music.

"What is this? Is this a club or something?!" She covered her ears.

"Nah, somebody must be playing a DDR machine." Yang gave her a gentle push at the back so that they wouldn't block the entrance, "They tend to up the volume of the music on a DDR machine really high."

"What is a 'DDR machine'?" Weiss had to talk really close to the blonde's ears because of the loud music.

Yang just smirked and moved towards a certain direction, motioning her hand to signal the heiress to follow her.

They arrived at a huge machine shortly. A man was moving his feet rapidly on it while his upper body was dancing in sync to it. On top of that, he was dancing alone on _two_ sides, meaning he was playing solo at a game that required two players.

"Wow!" Yang exclaimed. There was a crowd around him and many people were recording his agile movements with their scrolls.

They stood there, dumbfounded for two minutes before the music came to an end.

When the man stopped, the crowd gave him a round of applause, some even squealed and whistled.

"What a monster." Yang said after giving a loud whistle.

"What?"

"That man." The blonde eyed the guy, "He's playing alone on two sides of the machines. Normally it requires two person to play on both sides; each will take one side and battle one another."

"Wow." The heiress turned to look at the man.

He turned around and thanked the crowd humbly before stepping down to join his friends; a man with beard and messy hair who was holding two cups of soda drinks and another woman with a scroll on her hand.

"Give me my cup, Miles." The man said.

"That was really sick, Monty! How come I never knew about that when we've worked together for so long?!" Miles said in a rather fast speed.

That Monty guy had black hair and was pretty tall; although he looked very thin but Yang had caught a glimpse of dancer's muscles on both his legs.

The woman was chuckling at their conversation.

"And that, is a DDR machine. Wanna try, princess?"

"…No thanks."

"Scared?"

"Of course not!" Weiss half shouted, then looked at her dress.

"Ah. Nevermind." Yang got the hint immediately as she recalled how she had accidentally seen the heiress' panties yesterday.

The blonde then brought Weiss to experience different types of games, from fishing to car racing to basketball game; the heiress was having fun time enjoying an arcade for the first time in her life.

It cost Yang a handful of lien to play together with Weiss, but she decided it was worth it. Even if she had to starve for days.

Seeing the heiress' smiling face was the best thing ever.

They continued to walk casually on the street after the little adventure in the arcade, occasionally stopping by some shops when Weiss showed interest in them.

And all that time, Weiss was clinging to Yang's arm. She must've done it subconsciously because there was just no way ice queen Weiss Schnee would initiate such gesture. Maybe she would if it was three years ago, but they had grown up a lot and aside from Blake, the heiress was the one that changed the most.

Noon approached as they reached a fast food restaurant. Yang suggested they had lunch there and although Weiss wanted to avoid eating such oily food, she didn't reject the idea. She knew Yang had spent a lot of money and she wouldn't let the heiress pay for the food because she was such a stubborn little dragon, so eating in a cheap fast food restaurant was the best idea.

They sat near at a table on the second floor that was the nearest to the side where they could have a clear view of the street below.

After finishing their food, they sat there and rest before continuing to explore the shopping district. Yang had been thinking whether to confess to Weiss or not; she saw her action of clinging to her arm as a good sign. That meant she rely on Yang a lot even if she didn't show it.

Just when she was about to open her mouth, the heiress had spoken first.

"Girls hmm…" She was staring at a particular direction, so Yang had followed her sight and two girls came to view.

One of them was a rabbit Faunus and the other was a human wearing a pair of fashionable sunglasses. They were holding hands and the taller human had stolen a peck on the Faunus' lips when they thought no one was looking.

"Awww they're so cute." Yang put her chin on her palm and looked at the couple. The rabbit Faunus was blushing furiously after that sudden peck.

"You support homosexuality?" The heiress said without moving her eyes away from the couple.

"Y-yeah." The blonde flinched a bit, "You don't support them?"

"I don't support them, but I'm not against it either. I guess I just don't understand how two person of the same sex can be in love."

Yang's heart sank faster than the Titanic when she heard Weiss' response.

 _Weiss is…straight?_

Since a young age she had always known about different kinds of sexuality – and then she figured out her own when she started to fall in love with Weiss.

And she knew that straight people were mostly…unlikely to turn bi or gay.

Weiss liked boys.

It also meant that Yang stood no chance of getting together with her.

She fought the urge to break down and cry. This is even harder than getting rejected if Yang had confessed to her.

 _It hurts so much…_

Using all her energy she managed to squeeze out an 'oh'.

"Yang? Are you okay?" Weiss turned to face the blonde.

Her face was pale and eyes were watery, and she was thankful that the heiress didn't suspect that her current state was about her crush on the girl.

"Bad…stomach…" She sniffed and lied.

"I think there'll be a clinic around here. Come, I'll bring you the-"

"Weiss."

The heiress' hand came to a halt.

"I just wanna go back home."

"Are you sure? It's fine Yang, I can cover up the cost if you're worried about money."

" _Weiss._ "

The blonde was facing the ground, bangs covering her expression as she raised her hand, stopping the heiress' attempt to touch her.

"Yang?"

"I'll be fine." She said as she stood up, ready to leave. She didn't dare to look at the heiress at all; she just quickened her steps to get out of the place as fast as possible.

But a tiny hand had held her wrist and she stopped, back facing the heiress.

"Yang, stop pushing me out again. Let me help you."

Weiss felt the blonde's hand being held tight into a fist as her body trembled.

"Weiss, just leave me alone."

"Yang-"

"Please."

The heiress' mouth opened slightly; she was shocked to hear such a broken voice. Yang must be really in pain now and she didn't want to show her vulnerable side to her. After giving it a thought, she had decided to not step over the boundary.

"Okay. If you feel really bad…just… find the public phone booth outside the forest and call me."

Yang didn't reply her; instead she just walked away after the heiress loosened the grip. She walked non-stop in a quick pace aimlessly, stubbornly refusing to let the tears formed in her eyes dropped.

She didn't look back either.

 _Getting rejected is nothing compared to falling in love with someone who will never love you back._

She gritted her teeth as she made it out of the shopping district.

 _Why…_

 **#**

 **Dun dun dun! Answer to the title of the chapter: No, it's not a date. Weiss doesn't like you Yang. She likes boys. She's straight.**

 **And somehow this chapter sounds like those old school romance anime scene. I'm sorry!**

 **Anyway, I know the ending here is similar with 'Fall in love with you' (That's one of my Freezerburn one shot) but I tried to make it short and look slightly different. If you want to furthermore understand Yang's feelings in this chapter, pay that one shot a visit. It's pretty much the same mentality.**

 **In my profile I've stated that I have zero experience in the romance department. Indeed I've never dated before, but I know the feeling of having a crush on someone.**

 **Especially when you're gay and your crush is straight and has a boyfriend.**

 **That hurts a lot man.** **I can understand Yang's feelings totally.**

 **Okay that's enough rant from me, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for reading!**

 **Please support me on Pa-treon as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories~**

 **I do not own RWBY.**


	14. Chapter 14 - Red Like Roses

**Not much to say here. Will save it for the author note at the ending section.**

 **Please support me on Pa-treon as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories!**

 **I do not own RWBY.**

 **#**

 **Chapter 14: Red Like Roses**

Ruby was surprised to see Blake sitting in the park alone on a swing.

It was almost two in the afternoon, which was a weird time to be in a park considering it was summer at the moment and being in an open area at times like this was something only a crazy person would do.

Or a person who was so depressed of something that they didn't care about themselves anymore.

Ruby believed Blake was the latter.

There were tall trees surrounding the park that gave certain area shades, but the swing was located in the middle and was totally exposed to the scorching sunlight.

So, naturally, little red had run to the Faunus to confront her; she knew something was bothering her.

Dropping the groceries on the ground she knelt down in front of the girl, hands grabbing her knees as she lifted her head to see the girl.

Blake was surprised by Ruby's sudden approach, but didn't do anything; instead, she continued to look on the ground.

"Blake, is everything alright?" Ruby said; the tone she used was not something one would expect coming out from an eleven year old child.

The Faunus knew her friend was just concerned about her. But she didn't want to face this; she didn't want to tell Ruby and instead she wanted to run – just like how she always did.

Seeing that Blake was unwilling to talk, Ruby stood up and withdrew Crescent Rose from the back of her waist. For a moment she saw fear in the Faunus' eyes, so she just grinned and expanded it to its scythe form.

At the end of the hilt was a spear-like tip and Ruby had stabbed it onto the ground with a certain angle – and it just happened to provide enough shade for the both of them.

Blake wanted to thank her, but there wasn't any voice coming from her throat.

She had been sitting under the sun directly for hours and it was already a miracle that she didn't collapse.

Maybe a little dehydrated, but overall she was fine.

Ruby took a bottle of cold soda she just bought from a store nearby and handed it to her. She took it, opened the cap then gulped down half a bottle.

"Whoa, slow down Blake!" Ruby squeaked.

"Ruby…" The Faunus handed the soda back to her after she secured the cap on. "Thanks."

"Sure. Are you sure you're okay, Blake?" The younger girl took the bottle, making no effort to change her current position. "You can talk to me you know. It'll make you feel better."

Blake still wouldn't budge. Therefore, Ruby had stood up, turned the scythe slightly to the left and sat on the swing beside her.

The Faunus looked at her with a pair of surprised amber orbs.

Ruby smirked while putting her elbow on her thigh, then her head on her palm lazily.

"If you're not gonna tell me, I'll stay here with you until you're okay."

Blake let out a heavy sigh – Ruby's stubbornness could definitely rival Weiss'.

Weiss.

The Faunus gulped before opening her mouth.

"I…"

"It's okay Blake. I won't tell anyone."

Ruby might be a child due to her age or that childish personality of hers, but when it came to times like this, Blake knew she was more reliable than anyone else in the world. True, she would go to Yang when she had a problem, but ever since she discovered the blonde's feelings towards Weiss, there had been a slight distance formed between the two.

Unable to talk to either Yang or Weiss, her only option left was Ruby – but it wasn't like the younger girl was a plan B or something. Blake genuinely trusted her; she did a good job on being the leader of Team RWBY and she matured by a large scale over the year.

The Faunus inhaled deeply, then pushed out all the air at once when she exhaled.

"I…I might have…certain feelings for…for a friend of mine." Blake said.

"A friend like Weiss?"

"Wha-" _How?!_

Ruby frowned; not only Yang had feelings on Weiss (she knew that a long time ago), but Blake too?

"Umm…" The girl did her best to not offend the Faunus, "Well…most of the time you were hanging out with us…with Team RWBY. And seeing as you're willing to open up to me, it certainly wasn't me, so that left Weiss or Yang."

Blake gulped at that sharp observation of this future huntress in front of her.

"I'm not a child, Blake. I know what 'love' is." Ruby smiled gently, "And I'm not against…you know, liking a girl."

Blake flinched a bit, but made no attempt to talk.

"From what I see, Yang and you are more like best friends. But recently you've been avoiding her a little bit, so initially I thought it might be Yang." Ruby continued, but didn't tell her about knowing Yang's crush on Weiss, "But I think things aren't always that easy, so I made a wild guess that it was Weiss, and judging from your reaction, I think it's correct."

She then grinned sheepishly at the Faunus.

"I've realized my feelings about a year ago…around the time when Topaz died." Blake said softly.

"Is that why you've been avoiding Yang? You don't have to be guilty because of Topaz you know."

"No no." Blake waved her hands, "It's…just that I really like Weiss and…I saw them…dating in the central shopping district."

Ruby held her hand, silently giving her encouragement.

"I…I found out about Yang's crush on Weiss around that period too. I kept thinking about us…about Yang, Weiss and me. I've always known that Weiss would pick Yang over me but…a small part of me…wanted her to choose me instead. I thought I could handle it but…when I saw Weiss clinging to Yang's arm on the shopping district today…I…"

Blake withdrew her hand from Ruby's grip and covered her face with both while weeping.

"I ran…I was…there…buying a book…at Tukson's…dad said he could handle the shop…so I went out to that place happily…and then I saw them walking together…they looked so blissful with each other. I couldn't handle it…it hurts so much to see my crush and my best friend dating…so I ran…"

"Blake…"

"I'm tired of…always running Ruby..."

"Blake, it'll be fine." Ruby smiled faintly, giving the impression that she was trying to hide something – but it wasn't like the Faunus could see it anyway.

"I know…but I hate myself…" Blake wiped the tears on her face, "I hate myself for being like this…they're together and I should be happy for them…but it hurts so much…"

"Blake, you don't know if they're dating yet."

"Weiss was…clinging to Yang's arm…she was smiling all the time…"

Ruby furrowed her eyebrows; she knew what Blake meant. The heiress wasn't someone to initiate such intimate gesture (yes, clinging to another person's arm was already extremely intimate for a certain heiress), so Ruby could fully understand Blake's point.

Weiss did that once with Ruby, and the latter knew she was doing it subconsciously – because when she came to realization, she quickly withdrew her hand and her face was red as tomato as she looked to another side, unwilling to face Ruby.

It didn't necessarily mean Weiss liked Ruby; it was more like the heiress felt secured around the girl.

It might be the same with Yang was what Ruby was trying to convey to Blake – only the sentence couldn't come out from her mouth.

She didn't want to upset Blake more than she already was, so she simply stood up and went over to the girl, giving her a tight hug.

"Sssh…it'll be okay…"

#

Yang reached home by evening. She took her time to walk back to Dragon Tears Forest _on her feet._

It took around forty five minutes for a city bus to reach the central shopping district from the forest, so the distance between both places weren't exactly short.

But she was in no mood to care about her fatigue.

She also knew Weiss would be really worried about her and that it was really irresponsible to just run off like that – however she couldn't stand it. She didn't want the heiress – her crush to see that look on her face when she learned the fact that Weiss was straight.

If she knew about Yang's feelings for her, then their friendship was sure to be ruined.

If only she could turn back time – to not fall in love with Weiss.

She practically dragged herself into the forest, then to her house and lastly on her bed. Finally, the tears that she had been holding since lunch were spilled out like a mini waterfall.

"Why…" She sobbed, covering her eyes with her right palm.

Images of Weiss played on her mind then, torturing her even more – how Weiss clung to her arm; how she jumped when she entered an arcade for the first time; how the she had ice cream on the corner of her lips and didn't realize it until Yang told her.

"Stop…" Her voice was broken as she forcefully shut her brain from thinking of all these, only to make it worse.

The more she didn't want to think about it, the more her brain was defying her.

She spent the rest of the day crying herself out with all her might while occasionally punching that old couch in the living room.

They still needed to meet each other the next day, so she would have to recover fast and bottle up everything so that her friends wouldn't know about it. If they asked about her swollen eyes, she'd just say it was because she threw up nastily.

 _Calm down Yang. Don't feel it, just cover them up, you can do it._

#

It was Monday then; Weiss was at her usual classes with Glynda while the other three was hanging out at Secret Base.

Blake was doing her best to hide the hurt by making use of that trademark poker face; Ruby had brought her home last night and had made sure she eat and sleep.

Yang on the other hand was doing a fantastic job putting up her usual face. Not even Ruby suspected a thing – to be honest she was pretty proud.

They were sitting inside the cave talking like usual, mostly about entering Signal or new combat moves and weapons.

However, Ruby was even more hyperactive than usual. She seemed happy about something but she didn't say anything about it.

Blake made sure the younger girl didn't talk about her crush on Weiss, or how she had seen the two dating. They came to a conclusion that if Yang and Weiss didn't tell them about it, it was possible that they wanted to keep it a secret and tell them when they felt like it was suitable.

Today wasn't as hot as the past few days. In fact, it was rather comfortable; the sun wasn't that hot and every now and then a gentle breeze would blow past the forest, creating waves on the lake surface.

"Don't worry Yang, they'll provide you with enough tools and stuff to upgrade your…I forgot the name again uh."

"It's Ember Celica Rubes."

"Ah yeah. Anyways, once you get in the academy, you don't have to worry about money anymore!"

"Sounds convenient."

"It is Blake! It's what dad told me. He used to study there too. I'm thinking of being exactly like him, graduate Signal and then apply for Beacon!"

"Wow Rubes, Beacon's at least one hundred times stricter than Signal!"

"Graduate Signal?"

"N-nothing!" Ruby quickly changed her sentence, "I mean, if I get to enter and study in Signal!"

Blake and Yang raised their eyebrows.

As Ruby shrunk, scared of the intimidating glares from both older girls, they heard the sound of leaves rustling and she had immediately dashed there to greet the newcomer – and to get away from the two.

"Weiss!" Ruby wanted to hug the heiress, but had come to a halt when she recalled about Blake and Yang. She quickly changed the subject then.

"Ah thank Dust you came Weiss! I was dying to tell you all!"

"What?" The three girls said in unison.

"Come, sit together, I have an announcement to make!" Ruby grabbed Weiss' hand and ran to the cave joining the black and the yellow.

"Yang! How was your stomachache? Does it still hurt? Are you okay?" The heiress yelped as she saw the blonde.

"Nope, totally fine. Don't worry about me princess." Yang grinned.

As they settled down, Ruby stood in front of them and took something from her pocket.

It was apparently a scroll.

"Wow, guess legendary huntsmen were even more capable than the Schnees!" Yang said.

"Hey!"

"Qrow and Summer bought that for you?" Blake asked.

"No no! Listen guys, there was a scout from Signal who watched the tournament a year ago, and since then he had sent some of his men to observe potential huntsmen from different elementary schools. I was on the list too and that scout actually came to observe me himself."

The girls were amazed.

"And then, this morning he came to my house and told me that I was being selected to enter Signal Academy!"

"Does that mean…" Yang said.

"You got moved two years ahead?!" Weiss squeaked.

"Wow..." Was all Blake could say.

"Yeah! And he gave me this scroll too! I can go to Signal and be with you guys already!"

Yang took this chance to pull everyone in for a group hug, then each of them had congratulated her on skipping years. And they knew very well that Ruby totally deserved it – they had seen how hard she trained and how determined she was when she said that she wanted to be a huntress and help people. Plus, they had also seen that insane skill of hers on the battlefield.

"We should totally celebrate this." The blonde released them and said.

"When are you enrolling there?" Weiss asked.

"After the result of the scholarship application I think. Means we're going to enter at the same time." Ruby answered.

"We don't know if we'll get the scholarship yet Rubes." Yang said.

"But you told me you aced the exam!" Ruby yelped, "You said you'll be sure to enter, no?"

"Uh…"

"Don't think too much." Blake interrupted, "When the time comes, we'll know. Let's relax for now."

"Yeah!"

#

October arrived soon and as they had expected, Blake and Yang were on top of the list. They were accepted into Signal as benefiters of the scholarships and could start enrolling there on the first week of November.

Presently the four of them were at Secret Base, hugging each other after Blake and Yang broke the news to everyone.

They had decided to celebrate this, but had no idea what to do.

"C'mon guys, think, we're gonna leave this place for four years! We have to do something meaningful before we leave!" Ruby said.

"Oh I know! What about we play hide and seek?" Yang pointed out her index finger.

"What are you, ten?" Weiss crossed her arms.

"Come on Weiss, we were ten when we played that. We're just three years older now." Blake smirked.

"Yeah, that's the first game we play. So we should appreciate more and put it to action right?" Yang winked at them.

In the end, they had agreed to let Weiss be the one that would look for them while they hide. She faced the wall of the cave as she counted thirty seconds.

All of them had come to a mutual agreement that since they were trained and armed now, they could widen the hiding area to almost the whole forest. It wasn't that big anyway, and they were a lot faster and sharper compared to three years ago.

"…Twenty nine, thirty!" Weiss turned around as she had finished the counting.

The first place she looked was that little space between the huge rocks and the lake; it was where Blake hid the first time and they totally didn't expect that.

But no, it was empty. She tried peeking into the lake, but the crystal clear water showed only the bottom of it.

Forest then.

She half ran into the opening, and then utilized her glyph to increase her movement speed as sapphire orbs looked through the forest for any signs of them.

Ruby and Yang should be easy to find as red and yellow weren't really made for mixing into the wild. The only problem being Blake; that girl always wore black colored clothing, causing her to be extremely difficult to be spotted by the heiress.

Plus, she was a cat Faunus, this place was basically her territory.

After a few minutes of searching, she couldn't find any of them. Just when she was about to change her path, a loud bang was heard from a certain direction.

In fact the sound was so loud that it caused the birds in the forest to fly away upon hearing it. Feeling uneasy she used her glyph again to boost her speed as she ran towards that particular direction.

She met Yang on her way and the blonde had nodded to her while they continued to run. That bang was near an area that they had never been to before, so it took them quite a while to get used to the slightly different structure of the ground to get to the source of the sound.

There was an opening in front of them and they saw a girl in black standing there.

"Blake!" Both shouted as they came to a halt beside her.

"What's wrong, Blake?" Yang said and both of them looked at her with concerned eyes.

It was at that moment they smelled something – something burning.

They turned towards the direction that Blake was facing.

And they saw it.

A car was upside down on the road with a hand coming out from the driver's seat, and the front side of it was burning.

Traces of brake mark could be seen on the ground, and as they followed it, their sight fell on something red.

They couldn't quite make out what that red thing was.

Maybe it was roses.

Or maybe it was a pool of blood.

But, it was none of that-

-It was a certain little girl they all knew too well, lying on a pool of red colored liquid.

She was unconscious and she seemed to be holding something in her arms.

Blood kept flowing out from her torso as the three girls stood there, unable to recover from the shock.

Luckily, another car came and the man had called both the ambulance and the police. The woman who was sitting beside her came down and comforted them as the man continued to shout over his scroll for help to arrive faster.

They couldn't even cry.

They couldn't say anything.

It was too much for them to handle.

Their friend lying on the road now could possibly be dead.

They couldn't make out the amount of blood she loss because of her blood red cloak – everything was so red.

Like roses.

 **#**

 **Here comes the climax!**

 **I'm sorry this has to end as a cliffhanger. But don't worry, I'll update it in a few days time. Be patient!**

 **You thought things were gonna be better after Weiss was revealed to be a straight girl?**

 **But no, they got worse!**

 **Because I'm evil!**

 **Also, school starting in November? Nah, it's Remnant, it has different culture.**

 **Anyway that's it for this chapter. Please review if you have anything to tell me *wink***

 **Thank you for reading my story. *sobs***

 **Please support me on Pa-treon as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories.**

 **I do not own RWBY.**


	15. Chapter 15 - Wilted Rose

**Climax! Be prepared folks, shit's about to happen!**

 **Please support me on Pa-treon as 'The tanker' if you like my stories *less than three***

 **I do not own RWBY.**

 **#**

 **Chapter 15: Wilted Rose**

Ruby was rushed to the hospital along with that driver – meaning that she was still alive.

But none of them went with her on the ambulance, because they were too shocked to even react.

What Ruby was holding so tightly in her arms was a severely injured baby cat – she must've rushed to the road to save it from the incoming car.

The cat was dead when she was moved into the ambulance, so the paramedics just left it there on the road, along with Ruby's scroll and Crescent Rose.

Police arrived shortly after that, cleaning up the mess and taking the three girls to the hospital for shock treatment. Yang made sure to grab Ruby's belongings before they got inside the car; she put the scroll inside her pocket and the bloodstained Crescent Rose on her lap while holding it tightly.

None of them said anything during the journey. Witnessing such horrible accident – even if it wasn't the full process – was enough to cause them to go over PTSD.

Doctor Oobleck gave them clearance after he treated them, telling the female officer who brought them here that they only need to get a really good rest. He also gave some medicine just in case.

Qrow and Summer arrived then, asking the doctor about their daughter's condition. The girls were instantly being washed with guilt upon seeing the couple.

According to them, Ruby was still in critical condition as her head had sustained severe concussion. She was still in the surgery room at the moment, and they could only hope for the best.

They sat there in silence, each had a bit of distance with one another while waiting for the light of the tag above the door to go off, and hoping that the doctor's face would be a happy one when he stepped out of the room.

Two men and three women rushed to their respective daughters and sister when they had arrived at the hospital.

"Weiss baby, you okay? You're not hurt are you?" Weiss' father said while her mother hugged her tightly.

"Blake honey, are you hurt?" Blake's parents also hugged her; Beatrix checking on her for any injuries.

Both girl didn't say anything and instead just kept looking at the ground. They couldn't even cry – it felt painful, their chests were about to burst but at the same time it was hollow.

Like their hearts wanted to let the feel flow, but their brains were stubbornly refusing it, trying to block out this hurtful memory.

Yang looked at her friends' parents who were busy comforting their child. A slight pain slashed through her heart and she turned back to stare at Crescent Rose which was resting peacefully on her lap.

"Hey, firecracker."

Not just Yang; Blake and Weiss all had flinched listening to Qrow speak for the first time since they arrived. The Schnees and Belladonnas were quiet too, all looking at the victim's father.

"Yes, and you two." The man continued.

All the girls gulped simultaneously; Summer was smiling faintly beside him as he spoke.

"Don't blame yourself on this." Qrow said, his expression unreadable, "This is an accident. It's not anyone's fault."

Yang was the first one to break down as she covered her face with both her hands and sobbed intensely while mumbling the girl's name. Weiss turned to another side, unable to withstand such heartbroken scene as tears silently fell from her eyes. Blake just sniffed quietly, biting her lips until it bleed while clenching her fists tight.

They heard movements then, but none was in the mood to fulfill their curiosity.

A shadow stood in front of Yang, and as the girl moved her hands away she saw Summer.

The woman just smiled as she hugged Yang, not bothering about being careful to not touch her hair. The girl's face was buried in her chest, and she wasn't making any movement – she just sat there lifelessly while Summer stroked her back.

"It's not your fault."

The woman understood that all the girls would blame themselves over Ruby, but she also knew that the blonde needed a family to share her pain. Weiss and Blake had families, but Yang was alone.

That was why she approached Yang first.

"I'm…sorry…" Yang's voice was hoarse.

"Sssh. I told you, it's not your fault." Summer answered, then turned to the other girls, "And it's not anyone's fault either. Let's pray that Ruby will be fine instead of blaming yourselves, alright?"

Weiss stood up then, followed by Blake as they walked to Yang, each sat on her both her sides respectively. Summer released the blonde and walked back to her husband, the other parents present went to them to give them comforts.

Winter joined the three girls as she knelt down in front of them, telling them that it would be fine, that Ruby would definitely make it. The woman then offered to return Crescent Rose to Ruby's parents, and they all nodded as an affirmative.

The monochrome pair knew just how much Yang was wounded – first her mother, then Topaz, and now Ruby who was already her sister basically – all her loved ones were leaving her one by one.

But Ruby was different.

She hadn't left yet; she would definitely be alive. She would definitely get through this; she was a huntress, a hero wannabe that wanted to save the people from the most fearsome monsters ever existed.

Roman arrived soon and after making sure Yang was fine, he went to join the adults.

Several hours later, the light went off, signaling the end of the emergency surgery on Ruby. The gang stood up immediately as the doctor walked out; his expression however was covered by the mask.

"Which one of you are her parents?" The doctor asked.

"We are." Qrow and Summer said simultaneously.

"Your daughter is safe." The doctor said.

"Oh Dust…" Summer breathed a sigh of relief as Qrow wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"However…"

Everyone present was trembling with fear as the doctor continued his sentence.

"She's in a coma at the moment and the chance of her…waking up is pretty small." The doctor paused for a moment, "Perhaps a miracle is required."

Summer broke down immediately; Qrow held her when she collapsed and hugged her tight, mumbling 'at least she's still alive' in her ears.

"I'm sorry, we've already tried our best. It was already a miracle that she survived the crash." The doctor shook his head, "I'll be transferring her to Room 4-25, you can visit her shortly."

The nurses then pushed Ruby out from the room. Her aura had healed almost all the external wound, but it wasn't powerful enough to cure her internal condition. Summer asked the nurses about sharing aura, but they told her that it wouldn't help much. The doctor told them that it was likely she had concentrated her aura on one side of her body to protect something in her arms, which was the main reason her head was injured that badly.

The girls immediately thought of the baby cat.

Ruby's head was bandaged; the left side of her body was completely fine while her right side had several bandages.

#

"Blake, where are you going?!" Beatrix shouted when her daughter ran away right before the gang entered Ruby's hospital room.

"Blake!" Her father chased after her immediately. Beatrix threw a look at Summer and Qrow and both of them had nodded. She then took off after her family.

"Why did she run?" Weiss said; her tone wasn't an angry one – it was more of genuine curiosity.

Why run away at the moment they had been waiting for so long? Why run away before seeing Ruby?

"Can't face it." Yang mumbled; she wasn't in the mood to care for anyone other than Ruby now.

Her fist was clenched tightly; her teeth gritting with anxious. She could completely understand why Blake ran, because she was just as afraid as the girl.

But she didn't want to run.

Not before taking at least a look at Ruby.

She felt Weiss grabbing her hand; it was cold as ice, shaking with fear and uncertainty - she knew the heiress was just as scared as she was.

Yang nodded, and the heiress mimicked her action.

Qrow and Summer had pushed open the door as the gang stepped inside.

Ruby was lying peacefully on the hospital bed with various equipment attached to her body. She was breathing with the help of an oxygen mask; there was a blue colored machine monitoring her condition as it showed her heartbeat, body temperature etc.

It seriously broke their hearts to see the girl like this.

Her parents walked to her first while the others were waiting at the back.

"Ruby…" Summer held her hand tightly.

"She'll definitely wake up." Qrow kissed his wife's head.

"Go." Roman whispered in Yang's ear, startling the girl.

"You too, Weiss." Winter gave her sister a gentle push.

Summer shifted from her current position to let the freezerburn pair see their beloved friend.

Yang gasped and covered her mouth with her palm, tears spilled from her eyes as Ruby came to sight.

Weiss on the other hand had collapsed to the ground; Summer holding her just before her knees touched it. She sobbed intensely, grabbing both Summer's arm and tried very hard to squeeze out a sentence.

"I'm…sorry…I…couldn't…find her…soon enough…I'm so sorry…" She suppressed the urge to shriek hysterically.

"Weiss honey, it's not your fault." Summer lifted her up and hugged her tightly.

"Yeah." Yang whispered, "It's mine. I shouldn't have suggested the game in the first place."

"Yang, please…" Weiss released herself from Summer's embrace and stood on her own feet, "It's mine…I should've…"

"Hey, stop, both of you." Qrow turned to both girls.

Their families were quiet the whole time, only sending them worried looks; no one dared to talk, for they didn't want to upset them by accident.

Just right before Qrow wanted to say something, a knock was heard coming from the entrance. The door was open, so they could see the guest – it was that female officer who brought the girls to the hospital.

"I'm sorry to interrupt." The officer said, "My name is Griffon. I believe you girls know…me…wait, where is Miss Belladonna?"

"Hello officer." Roman greeted, "Miss Belladonna had gone back with her parents as she wasn't feeling too well."

The rest of them just nodded; they didn't want Officer Griffon to stay in the room for too long.

"Alright." She then walked to Qrow and Summer, "I believe you are Ruby Rose's parents?"

The couple nodded.

"The police had carried out an investigation on the car crash." She paused a moment, then eyed the other people, "Do you want me to speak to you privately or…?"

"It's fine, they should be kept inside the loop." Summer answered.

"Alright." Officer Griffon cleared her throat when she took out a photo from a file that she was carrying.

She then showed the photo to all of them, asking if they recognized him, but all shook their head.

"His name's Vincent Lancaster." Officer Griffon said, "He's the driver that hit your daughter."

For a moment the room flamed with anger, but it had settled down after Summer cleared her throat and asked the woman to go on.

"He is dead." Officer Griffon said, "His alcohol level was point thirteen."

"Very drunk." Winter said.

"Yes. We believe he was drunk when he was driving. There was a dead baby cat at the crime scene, so it is likely that Miss Rose dashed out to save it from being hit by the car."

"Isn't Ruby's semblance speed?! Why didn't she use it?" Yang half shouted.

"Ruby can't use her semblance when she isn't able to focus." Qrow shook his head, "She's still training to improve that aspect."

"Damn…" The blonde cursed.

"So, it's not your fault, Yang and Weiss." Summer held both their hands, "It was the driver's fault."

 _It's lucky that that Lancaster bastard is dead. If he's alive I would've ripped his heart out by my own hand._

Yang's eyes burned with crimson as she thought.

But it disappeared a millisecond after – because it wasn't totally that guy's fault.

Yang blamed herself.

Still.

"She was supposed to be a hero." The blonde said softly, hand running through Ruby's silky hair, "Not the sleeping beauty."

#

"Blake, please open the door." Beatrix pleaded.

"Trix, she's been there since she ran back from the hospital." Blake's father said.

"I know, Bart!" Beatrix turned to face the man, "Won't you worry about her?"

"I do." Bart sighed.

"Right." Beatrix took a deep breath; Bart and her had agreed not to argue anymore for the sake of their daughter – they had learned and tried really hard to control their temper.

"Trix, just let her be alone." The man put his hand on his wife's shoulder, "She needs time and distance."

The woman hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"Blake, I'll prepare some tuna sandwiches. If you're hungry, you can get them in the kitchen." Beatrix said as the both of them walked downstairs.

The Faunus' ears flattened on her scalp as she hugged her kitty pillow tight.

No matter how hard she tried to not run away, in the end she failed miserably.

She couldn't face Ruby; she couldn't bear to even take a look at that girl.

Because it wasn't Yang or Weiss' fault, it was _her._

She saw Ruby dashing out to save that cat when the car came – and yet, she didn't managed to stop her. A part of her knew that Ruby was a capable huntress in training and that she had amazing reflex.

But the moment she saw how drunk the driver was, she should've stopped Ruby.

She should've.

But she didn't.

A driver that drunk wouldn't be able to slam the brake; hell, he didn't even seem to notice Ruby being in the middle of the road.

It was all her fault.

She witnessed it with her own eyes – she was trying to hide near that area, but her Faunus hearing had picked up a baby cat crying for help. So, she ran to the source of the sound, and as she reached the opening of the forest, a flash of red dashed by beside her.

Startling, she came to a halt and instead just stood there looking at Ruby running towards the cat. She wasn't using her semblance; Blake wasn't sure of the reason, but then the sound of a car approaching caught her attention.

She held out her hand, but before she could yell stop to Ruby, the car had already hit her directly.

She saw as her friend's body got thrown backwards like a puppet.

She saw her friend's blood soaking through that red cloak.

She saw how the car flipped and landed upside down, the driver's hand reaching out of the window for help but eventually passed out.

Her heart screamed, but no voice was coming out from her throat.

And immediately Weiss and Yang had come, both shocked too from the ghastly sight in front of them.

When Ruby was rushed to the hospital, she thought she could face her. She sat there for hours, thinking about how guilty she was – only she didn't have the courage to confess her guilt to the people around.

She didn't want the people she loved to leave her.

It was all her fault.

It was all because she didn't stop Ruby in time.

She was pulled out from the sea of thoughts running inside her brain by her parents, saying that they could visit Ruby now as she was being moved into a more comfortable room.

And then her heart sank.

Could she really face Ruby? Could she face the girl that was knocked by a car and fell onto the ground like a sack of potato, all because Blake realized it too late and couldn't stop her?

When Qrow opened that door, her legs started moving.

 _No, I can't._

 _I can't._

And thus, Blake ran.

She decided anywhere was better than the hospital.

But now she was calmed down and had more effort to think about it deeper – and then she realized that the reason she ran wasn't because of Ruby herself.

It was because she didn't want to face Qrow and Summer…and Weiss…Yang, or any other person in that room.

She didn't want them to know that she was the guilty one.

That's why she ran.

#

The window to Ruby's hospital room opened smoothly to the side, then a figure had leaped over it and landed swiftly without making any sound.

The room was quiet and dark as it was night time; only the sound of that regular 'beep' was heard other than Ruby's slow and rhythmic breathing.

A normal person might not be able to see anything in the room this dark, plus the moon was hiding behind the clouds. But Blake was a Faunus; she had excellent night vision.

Slowly she approached the girl.

Vale Mass General had a poor security system and that was the reason Blake broke in with ease to visit her friend. She didn't want anyone to see her, so she had waited until the visiting hour was over to sneak in.

When she locked herself inside her room and squirmed on her bed for hours, she finally came to a conclusion that no matter how guilty she was, she wanted to at least see Ruby - but without her parents or friends around, because she didn't dare to face them.

"I'm sorry…" She held Ruby's tiny hand as tears rolled down from her cheek.

She hated herself for being so selfish. What was her position to see the wilted rose?

She was the very cause of a blooming rose like Ruby turning lifeless.

"I'm really sorry…" She knelt down, still unwilling to let go of that icy cold hand.

 **#**

 **I'm sorry that this chapter is a little bit short compared to the normal ones. But I made sure it reached at least 3k (Forgive me pls)**

 **Anyway that's it for this chapter. Poor them, all blaming themselves when the real cause of this accident is that freaking Vincent Lancaster.**

 **For the sake of these cute little girls with flashy hair colors and cat ears (well one of'em) Please DO NOT drink and drive!**

 **Thanks for sticking with me and please leave a review if you have any opinion!**

 **Please support me on Pa-treon as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories *less than three***

 **I do not own RWBY.**


	16. Chapter 16 - Broken Vows

**I have no idea how to name this chapter either. I'm so sorry.**

 **Not sorry.**

 **Teehee.**

 **Please support me on Pa-treon as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories *less than three***

 **I do not own RWBY.**

 **#**

 **Chapter 16: Broken Vows**

Weiss didn't want Yang to be alone.

But she didn't have the courage to talk to the blonde – because it was her fault that Ruby ended up in a hospital bed. And she knew that her wish to accompany Yang was just an excuse for her to justify her own action.

Blake's parents called not long ago, saying that she was doing fine and that they didn't have to worry about her.

In the end, they all went separate way.

Roman offered to stay with Yang for the night, but the blonde had refused it, saying that she just wanted to be alone. He respected his stepdaughter's decision and instead just sent her back home on his red pickup truck.

"Weiss, can I come in?" Winter's sound was heard after two gentle knocks on the door.

"…"

"I'm going to come in anyway." Weiss heard the sound of the handle being pressed, then the silent squeak of the heavy wooden door moving.

Winter saw her sister sitting beside the huge window alone; she was giving her full attention to the shattered moon, not even making an effort to greet the woman.

"Weiss, stop blaming yourself." The woman walked to the silent heiress.

"I'm not." Weiss answered immediately – it was more of a self pity.

"Nobody could see it coming." Winter sat down on a chair just beside the heiress, "Hence the term 'accident'."

"If there was a potential to avoid it, then it wasn't." Weiss said softly.

"There was nothing you could do." The woman put her hand on the heiress' shaking shoulder, "Ruby would never blame you."

"That's the problem." Weiss sobbed lightly, "I want her to blame me. I want her to never forgive me…but that silly girl…knowing her…she would definitely just…smile sheepishly and tell me it's fine…"

"Cry out Weiss. It'll make you feel better." Winter moved and hugged her sister, "It'll take a while for Ruby to wake up. But she will definitely open her eyes; you must have faith in her."

"What if she never wakes up anymore?"

"Ssh. She will. She will never leave you all alone. She just needs time – and your support. So stop blaming yourself Weiss. Use that energy to help Ruby instead."

Weiss moved her arms slowly, wrapping them around her sister's back.

"Ruby…"

#

She couldn't remember the dream she just had, but it was definitely a nightmare.

Sitting on her bed she breathed heavily; her pillow and bed sheet soaked with sweat and tears.

She tried to look around, but saw no sign of her sister. She must've cried herself to sleep yesterday night.

Weiss decided to take her sister advice – whenever she felt guilty and started to blame herself, she would take a deep breath and turn that energy to pray for Ruby to wake up.

This way, she would feel way better.

And it would definitely be what Ruby would've wanted.

Nodding, she went to the bathroom, cleaned herself and went downstairs – and to her surprise, her whole family was present. They were sitting in the living room, and judging from their expressions they were having a serious talk.

Winter was the first to notice her sister as she lifted her head and smiled.

"Had a good sleep?"

"Yes." Weiss joined them as she sat on the couch just beside Winter.

"Weiss honey, we uh…we need to tell you something." Her mother said.

"I understand." The heiress nodded, "You still have business to take care of. I'm fine."

"…You sure?" Her father frowned, "If you want us to stay then-"

"I'm fine." Weiss repeated, "I have Winter."

"I'm sorry Weiss."

"You too?"

"The military called for my return." Winter's expression softened, "I'm really sorry Weiss."

"I understand. You're really good at your job Winter." Weiss smiled faintly to assure her sister, "The people of Remnant need you."

"We're really sorry Weiss." Her father said.

"Don't be. I still have Blake and Yang, don't worry about me. When are you leaving?"

"Soon." Winter answered.

"I see…" Weiss couldn't hide the lonely expression on her face, but she forced herself to return to her typical heiress face, "Well, I'm going to visit Ruby after breakfast. Be safe, pa- father, mother and Winter."

"You too, Weiss." Her mother replied.

#

Vale Mass General wasn't too far from the Schnee mansion. It took around ten minutes by car, so Weiss had arrived pretty early.

She expected to see the black or the yellow of the gang when she reached the red's room, but found out that only Qrow and Summer were there.

"Hey, you're early kiddo." Qrow greeted first.

"Good morning Weiss." Summer said next.

"Good morning Summer and Qrow." The heiress walked in and put the bouquet of flowers on the table just beside the bed, then turned to the sleeping beauty, "You too, Ruby."

She had decided to visit the girl every day, telling her stories and things that happened around her and keeping her accompanied at the same time.

"Any plans after this ice queen?" The man asked.

Weiss hesitated for a while before telling him that she would visit Topaz's grave at Secret Base later. She thought the dog should be informed about Ruby's current condition.

"Sure." Summer smiled, "We'll be going to visit Blake's parents. Your sister called us and said that they have to go so…if you ever need us, just let us know alright? You can move in with us temporarily if you want too."

"I'll be sure to." The heiress smiled back and thanked them.

#

"Yang?"

"…Hey Weiss."

She walked to the tall blonde sitting in front of Topaz's grave and proceeded to settle down beside her.

For a moment they both didn't say anything; they just stared at the grave in front of them, trying to convey feelings.

It was the heiress who broke the silence first.

"Hey Topaz."

Yang flinched a bit and that didn't go unnoticed by the girl sitting beside her. There was a little space in between them, but the heiress could feel it.

"Just want to tell you something."

"I already told him."

The heiress looked at blonde for a while, then touched her shoulder lightly.

"Yang, is there anything I can do?"

"Just leave me alone, Weiss." Yang's voice was gentle – but cold.

"Yang, please stop pushing me out."

"I didn't."

"Why are you distancing yourself from the rest of us?"

"I didn't."

"Yang, I know you want to be strong, but please…if you don't tell me what is wrong, I can't help you!"

"I don't need your help." The blonde answered, still not looking at her, "Stop pushing me Weiss."

"You're the one that was pushing me out!" Weiss half screamed. "We need each other to be leaned on in a critical time like this Yang!"

"Please…stop. I beg you Weiss, stop."

After a moment of pause, the heiress continued.

"Three years ago when we just met…I was really happy." She said, "You were my first friend. But over the year…I feel like you've been deliberately putting some distance between…us; between the whole team – even until now. Why do you do that, Yang?"

"Weiss, _please_ …just leave me alone."

"No! Stop bottling everything up and- mmpf!"

She felt Yang's lips pressing against her own roughly as the blonde cupped her face with those pair of calloused hands.

Weiss was too shocked to react to the sudden kiss – she just sat there looking at Yang, dumbfounded and confused.

As the realization hit her, blue orbs widened and her hand moved-

-And slapped Yang in the face _hard._

Tears starting to roll down her cheek as she clenched her teeth, staring hard at Yang with an accusing look.

"That is why I don't want to tell you." The blonde answered coldly, making no effort to ease that pain on her reddened cheek, "I love you Weiss. I've always loved you."

"What are you saying?!" Weiss squeaked, "Why did you do that?!"

"Because I love you!" Yang's eyes turned crimson.

Weiss covered her lips with her palm, saying nothing.

"I really love you okay! But I know you don't like girls!" Yang shouted as the surrounding temperature rose, startling the heiress, "I know! But I…the more I tried to distance from you, the closer you kept coming to me! Why… _why Weiss?_ Why make me fall in love with you even more when all I want is to stop loving you?!"

"I…" Weiss' body was shaking tremendously, "I didn't know…"

"Weiss-" Yang held out her hand trying to touch the girl.

" _No!_ " Weiss shouted, slapped the hand that was reaching out for her, stood up and fled from the scene crying.

Yang was heartbroken by Weiss' rejection as she just sat there lifelessly, not even make an attempt to go after her.

 _That's it. Friends to strangers._

She touched her swollen cheek lightly and sobbed.

 _I'm sorry._

#

 _Why?_

Weiss kept running aimlessly; the tears coming out from her eyes were unstoppable. The scene of Yang forcing a kiss on her replayed again and again in her brain; she finally understood why she always felt like there was a thin layer of glass separating them.

Because Yang created that piece of glass – to keep 'friendship' and 'love' on each side respectively, not wanting them to cross the line.

And when Weiss kept on applying pressure on that piece of thin glass by pushing girl who created it, it could not hold the two strong forces anymore and finally shattered.

It never occurred to Weiss that Yang was restraining herself so greatly. If it was a normal person, they would've been crushed by the weight of the pressure – but the dragon was different. She did a fantastic job hiding it; not even Ruby-

Wait, did Ruby or Blake know about Yang's feelings for her?

Or it was just Weiss that didn't know about that all along?

She then recalled a scene.

 _"_ _You support homosexuality?"_

 _"_ _Y-yeah. You don't support them?"_

 _"_ _I don't support them, but I'm not against it either. I guess I just don't understand how two person of the same sex can be in love."_

"Oh Dust…" She came to a halt and covered her face with both her hands, ignoring the strange look people were giving her.

She thought Yang was feeling sick because she looked so pale.

She thought Yang was holding the pain because her eyes were so watery.

But in reality, it was because Weiss had hurt her.

"What have I done?" She whispered.

Yang was hiding her expression but she knew it. She knew how painful she must've been – Weiss had literally shot an arrow through her heart.

Up until Yang telling her that she loved her, she had never thought about her own sexuality. She was educated, since she was a kid, that man and woman made a couple.

She knew that there were gay people, but she had never really pay attention to it. As long as she wasn't involved, she would just ignore them – not supporting, neither did she deny their love.

Now, ironically, she was involved directly in a same sex relationship – with one of her best friend.

Her first friend.

Did she hate Yang?

She thought of the heir of the Vasilias family – that blue haired handsome guy who was so cool. Weiss thought she liked him.

Until Yang confessed to her.

She started to doubt if she really was straight.

That look on the blonde when she had slapped her hand before it touched Weiss.

There was no word that could be used to describe it.

It was pure hurt.

 _No…_

She didn't hate Yang. But to say she loved her – she wasn't sure about that.

But what she did was over the limit.

Whether it was the kiss or her slapping off her hand to refrain Yang from touching her…

 _What should I do now…first it was Ruby…then Yang…_

Should she apologize to Yang for hurting her?

Would their friendship ever be mended?

Was it possible for them to go back to the way it was?

 _"_ _We…had made many promises about staying as friends forever. But…will we really be…always together? You know, we will eventually grow up. We will be separated. Things will happen and…I'm afraid to lose the most precious people in my life."_

She broke down once again; now that she recalled back, there were so many subtle hints that Yang gave during their interactions.

 _What should I do…?_

#

Blake spent the whole day in her room doing nothing. She could barely eat – just thinking about Ruby would make her lose appetite.

She wrote all her thoughts and memories of that horrible scene on her notebook. Scribbling intensely made her feel calmer and would ease her pain even if it was just a little bit.

Suddenly, her cat ears perked up upon picking the sound of familiar footsteps. She recognized the person who made those sounds – they belonged to a certain heiress – her crush.

The footsteps came to a halt just in front of her house and what had surprised her was the faint sobbing.

Clenching her fist she had decided that Weiss came first before herself. She ran out of the locked room, then downstairs, ignoring Qrow and Summer as well as her mother (Her father had gone to work) who were in the living room and straight to the girl.

"Weiss-!"

The heiress jumped; she didn't expect to hear the Faunus' voice.

She didn't have the intention on coming to her house but her legs had brought her here.

"B-lake?" Her voice was hoarse as a result from the crying.

"Weiss, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." The heiress wiped her tears with her hands and forced out a smile.

"Weiss, Ruby is going to be fine. And it's not your fault." Blake said. _It is my fault. Don't cry for something you didn't do, Weiss._

"Yeah…" Weiss said, then half shouted when she recalled something. "Blake, why did you run yesterday?!"

"I…" A pause. "It's nothing Weiss."

The heiress gulped; she didn't know if she should ask Blake further. She knew the Faunus was hiding something, but she was scared that what happened between Yang and her would repeat between them.

She already lost Yang; she didn't want to lose Blake too.

Wait, had she really lost Yang?

She remembered what she told the blonde – distance didn't separate friendship; only the will to not stay friend did.

So, if she wanted to remain friends with Yang, would their friendship go back to the way it was?

Then she heard a voice in her head.

 _Even after all the hurtful things you've done? You can't stab a person and ask them not to bleed, you selfish bastard._

"No…" Weiss didn't know how she still had tears – she thought they would've dried off after crying for so long.

"Weiss?"

"Don't leave me too Blake…"

"I won't leave you. What's wrong, Weiss?" Blake held her shoulders.

"I said something hurtful to Yang…" The heiress wept, "When we were…hanging out…in the shopping district after the summer festival…she had been…bearing with the pain until now…then I…I did something even more hurtful to her…just now…she…"

 _Hanging out? So they weren't dating?_

"Weiss, calm down." Blake hugged the girl, but she didn't return the embrace.

 _What the hell is wrong with me?! Why am I always like that?!_

Blake closed her eyes as she deepened the contact.

 _When Topaz died too…I only think of myself. Weiss is heartbroken and all I think about is that whether they were dating or not!_

She hated herself.

Because she felt a little bit of joy when she heard that they weren't dating.

Because she still had a chance.

That tiny piece of joy clashed with her complicated guilt of indirectly causing Ruby to be on the hospital bed; her heart had started to ache instantly as she released the heiress.

"Weiss…"

"Y…yes?"

"Yang won't fault you for that. She's a tough girl, she will understand you."

"But-"

"If you're…afraid, to talk to her, maybe I can help?" Blake's voice became lower, "I can help you confront her and tell her that…that you didn't mean it."

"No." Weiss straightened her back as she sniffed, "I…I said things that hurt her and…and I must do it myself if I want her to forgive me."

"Okay." Blake smiled faintly.

"Thanks, Blake."

"I'll always be by your side Weiss. You can come to me if you ever…needed someone."

#

Blake never let Beatrix or Bart in her room after Ruby was hospitalized.

She would come out at late night to grab enough supplies so she wouldn't have to get out of the room. She had no appetite, but had eaten the minimal amount of food she was able to swallow.

There was a bathroom connected to her room too so she literally just stayed locked inside there the whole day.

Beatrix asked Qrow and Summer to look out for her as she put a few bottles of water, as well as some sandwiches on the floor in front of her room.

Crumpled papers on the floor had caught her attention as she peaked through the slightly opened door. Curious, she tiptoed into the room and picked the nearest one up, then proceeded to read it.

 _My fault. Ruby's condition was my fault. How could I never make it in time to save her? Why didn't I stop her from saving that cat? It was half dead already anyway. But I was too late when I held out my hand. Car just knocked her like…like a rag doll. I witnessed the whole thing. I'm scared…I don't want to lose the people I love the most…I'm scared to tell them the truth, but I'm also tired of keep running away! But I can't! I always run!_

 _I should've called for help, but I didn't. I was too shocked and just stood there like an idiot. If it weren't for that couple who arrived later, Ruby could've been died! I hate myself! Why?!_

Beatrix's tears dripped on that piece of paper as she read it.

She finally understood why her daughter locked herself inside her room.

Dust, Blake was in so much pain but Beatrix could do nothing to help her.

 _I'm really the worst mom ever._

She put everything back in the same place as she returned downstairs to join Qrow and Summer.

When she saw them, she knew what she had to do.

She had to tell them.

If Blake couldn't tell them on her own, then she would.

She knew her daughter blamed herself for Ruby's condition, and the only way to pull her out of it was by telling Ruby's parents. If she didn't act fast, there would be a high chance that Blake would eventually become depressed.

They must be really curious about the reason Blake ran off before seeing Ruby. She knew from their perspective, it looked like Blake had done something wrong – but in reality she didn't.

So she must clean her daughter's name and tell them the truth.

"Qrow, Summer, can I talk to you about something?"

#

"I see…" Summer said.

"It's not her fault." Qrow continued after her.

"But she doesn't think like that." Beatrix said.

"Then-"

The sound of door opening had interrupted their conversation as Blake walked in together with an unexpected guest.

"Weiss!" Summer jolted up from her seat, "Are you okay honey?"

"I'm fine." Weiss smiled. "Just tired."

"Blake." Qrow called as the Faunus was about to go back to her own room leaving the heiress with them.

She flinched, but turned to face the man anyway.

"It's not your fault."

The girl looked at the man with confused eyes.

"I don't know what caused you to run yesterday." Qrow smiled, "Whatever it is, it's not your fault. Ruby's been involved in an accident and the one in fault should be that drunk driver."

"But-"

"Blake." Summer said, "Come, let's talk things out. It's not healthy to bottle everything up inside of you."

#

Blake felt a lot better after talking to Ruby's parents.

She told them everything and none of them blamed her; in fact, they were so concerned that they suggested taking her to see a doctor.

A huge weight had been released from her chest-

-But a brand new one had crushed again, and it was way heavier than the original one.

Yang.

She hated to admit it but she felt happy because Yang wasn't dating Weiss.

She also felt happy because Weiss had started having distance with Yang – meaning her chance was higher compared to the blonde.

These feelings had caused her to be even more stressed than before, because she shouldn't feel that way in the first place.

She was literally taking advantage of Yang.

Her best friend.

Nightmare still haunted her as she slept.

After a long night of squirming on her bed, she was awakened by her mother as the first ray of sunlight of the day invaded her room. Beatrix had pulled up the curtain, making her room looked a lot less dark as it was before.

"Blake, Weiss called." Her mother handed her scroll to her.

She took it and answered.

"Weiss."

"Good morning Blake. Can you come to Secret Base together with me? I want to…look for Yang and…"

"Sure."

"I'll have George drive to your house and we'll go together."

"Okay."

However, the blonde wasn't there when they had arrived at Secret Base. Topaz's grave was clean as new, so she must've been here not long ago.

They went to her house next and to their surprise, all her belongings were gone.

"No…" Weiss collapsed on her knees as she covered her mouth with her palm. "No…"

"Calm down, Weiss." Blake knelt down beside her, "Maybe she went to stay with her stepdad."

George drove them to Roman, but the man didn't see her either.

They went to search everywhere the blonde would possibly go – but that cheerful dragon wasn't seen anywhere.

The last place was the hospital.

Blake hesitated before going in, but with Weiss' support had gone into Room 4-25 to visit her friend.

And much to her disappointment, Yang wasn't there.

Ruby's scroll was being placed nicely on the table beside her, indicating that the blonde was here.

They were one step behind her again.

Weiss broke down as she mumbled.

"Dust…she must be really hurt to just disappear like that…"

Without contacting any of them at all.

Qrow, Summer, Roman and Beatrix had arrived later and all had shaken their head, claiming that Yang didn't get in touch with any of them.

All traces of her existence had just vanished like that.

Blake cried silently as she watched Weiss weeping like a child and Ruby who had many tubes attaching to her fragile body.

The vows they made were as broken as they were now.

 **#**

 **There is a whole lot of crying and shifting perspective in this chapter. I'm really sorry if it's confusing.**

 **I need to improve my limited vocabulary knowledge though. It's hard to write feels if I can't express them well.**

 **Anyway thanks again for reading this series.**

 **Just to let you know, Blake's Faunus hearing can hear Weiss walking outside. In fact, all Faunus can, but Beatrix isn't one. Blake got the cat ears inherited from her father Bart. He's the Faunus and Beatrix's a human. She loved her daughter dearly and that's why Blake thought that other people hate Faunus but never her mom. She knew how much Beatrix love her.**

 **Enough rant from me, hope you enjoy.**

 **Please support me on Pa-treon as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories *less than three***

 **Also, if you have a FB, I have a page there with the name "IBurn 'Tank' RWBY Fanfic Author", you can approach me easier there~**

 **I do not own RWBY.**


	17. Chapter 17 - Monochrome

**I highly recommend listening to 'Secret Base Kimi Ga Kureta Mono' while reading this. Gives you the feels.**

 **Please support me on Pa-treon as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories *less than three***

 **I do not own RWBY.**

 **#**

 **Chapter 17 Monochrome**

They had expected to see Yang on their first day of school.

And of course, that energetic blonde was nowhere to be seen in Signal.

Blake and Weiss got distributed into the same dorm, and judging by the fact that other dorms all consisted of four people, the heiress must've done something to the distribution system by using the power of the Schnees.

A month had passed since Yang's disappearance and she obviously didn't want to be found – because even the elite forces of the Schnee family couldn't track her down at all.

It was as if Yang Xiao Long had never existed.

Qrow and Summer contacted Weiss not long after the search started, telling her that if Yang didn't want to be found, then they should respect her decision and just let her be. If the blonde wanted to see them, she would come back. Thus, Weiss had called off the search.

It was the second week of November, just a week after they started their first semester.

Weiss had chosen the business and economic based classes while Blake went for huntress training. Therefore, their schedules didn't exactly allow them to spend time together much. The only time that they were able to see each other were meal time and night as the latest time in their schedule was around nineteen hundred.

Today was a long day.

Blake had combat training for the whole day and it was extremely tiring. She finally knew how hard Ruby trained to achieve what she was before she…well, ended up in a coma.

There wasn't a single thing the Faunus particularly liked in Signal. It wasn't a bad school; in fact, the equipments and facilities were complete, plus the teachers were super nice too but she just couldn't bring herself to like this place.

The best thing here, aside from the unlimited tuna supply in the cafeteria was her crush.

No matter how bad her day was, she would always feel better upon seeing her roommate.

"Draw!" The female teacher shouted when a buzz was heard.

Blake panted as she stared hard at her opponent; he obviously graduated an elementary combat school, judging from that hard look that he gave the Faunus. She wasn't bullied, but the people here didn't like scholarship students.

She had no idea why.

The boy's choice of weapon was a pair of gauntlets – and it reminded her of a certain blonde.

Their aura was reduced to fifteen points simultaneously, thus the teacher calling it a draw. She was pretty impressed with the Faunus, seeing as she had never study in a combat school before but her skills could already rival an honor graduate like the boy.

After the teacher announced dismiss, all of the students started packing up to go back to their dorms – Blake included.

She still wore that black colored ribbon to hide the fact that she was a Faunus; although Weiss said that she would beat up whoever prick that dared to lay a finger on her, she still thought that laying a low profile was much safer – even though it was pretty uncomfortable that her Faunus ears were restricted.

Blake knew something was wrong when two tall men blocked her path.

 _Damn it._

She cursed internally, but remained her poker face on the outside.

Her dorm was just a few steps away!

"Excuse me." The Faunus said coldly, but the two men wouldn't budge.

"You've got some guts, little girl." The tall man with curly red hair said.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand." Blake lifted her head and instantly met with two blue eyes staring hard at her.

"A poor scum like you who took scholarship to study here isn't supposed to beat an honor graduate like David." The other man who was pretty bulky said.

"I didn't beat him. It was a draw." Blake simply replied while looking at her dorm. "Excuse me, I need to go."

"Hey, listen to your seniors when they talk to you!" The red curly hair shouted.

Blake was glad to have that piece of fabric covering her ears because Dust, this man _sure could yell._

Even her human ears were hurting.

It seemed like the two men standing in front of her were second years – or third, she wasn't sure.

"I think we need to beat some sense into her. Don't you, Michael?" The bulky man cracked his knuckles.

"Of course, Ryan." Michael replied.

 _Really?_

Blake thought as she sighed internally.

 _Just a few steps away from my dorm._

Her hand moved towards Gambol Shroud that was sheathed, getting ready to withdraw it when-

"Hey, stop blocking the way!" A bubbly voice came from the men's back.

The Faunus couldn't exactly see the newcomer, but it was definitely a girl.

Michael turned around first, getting ready to yell at whoever dared to interrupt their session – but his face turned into horror upon seeing that girl.

"Michael? What's wrong?" Ryan followed, but didn't seem to be noticing the reason that terrified his friend.

As the two seniors shifted their position, Blake got a good view of the girl – she was ginger haired, had a pair of turquoise eyes and muscles that reminded her of her best friend.

 _Damn it, why does everything remind me of Yang…_

The girl was shorter than Blake, and she had to lift up her head to meet the two men's eyes.

"And you two were bullying a girl?!" The girl half shouted, "Just because she beat that loser didn't mean you guys _can pick on her!_ "

"Hey, watch it you little-"

"No Ryan!" Michael grabbed his shoulder immediately and shook his head, "Let's go."

"What? C'mon man it's just a-"

"A girl who fucking tore the front yard apart!" The man yelled impatiently, "She's the first year that broke both Jon's legs and put him into the emergency room last week!"

"What?! How is that even possible?" Ryan shouted back.

"You weren't there! You didn't see how she fucking destroyed Jon!" Michael said as he started running, "Don't regret it if you don't listen to me!"

Ryan gulped as he turned to the ginger. This short little girl with a goofy smile destroyed the strongest fighter in his team, and judging from that daredevil Michael's terrified face when he saw her – it was better to save his own life.

So he ran.

"Hmph, bunch'a idiots!" The girl huffed and proceeded to take out her scroll, then walking to the dorm just opposite of Blake's.

"Uh…" The Faunus held out her hand to the girl, "Excuse me?"

"Hmm?" The ginger turned to her, tilting her head.

"I…just wanna say thank you for…helping me out there." Blake said while trying hard to not twitch her ribbon.

"Oh! It's no big deal kitty cat!" The girl grinned.

 _Kitty cat? She knows?_

Blake flinched in defense as the ginger continued her sentence.

"You know, if you replace that black ribbon on your head with cat ears, it won't make any difference! I mean, you _really_ look like a cat!"

 _Oh._

The door to the girl's dorm opened, revealing a man with long hair and green shirt, as well as a pair of sleepy eyes.

Blake recognized the man, she saw him a few times when she came back from training in the evening. However, she had never seen this ginger in front of her for the whole week since she started studying here.

But Michael just said that she tore the front yard and broke a senior's legs last week, which meant she was here already.

Maybe Blake needed to change her habits of not paying attention to important news and her surroundings. Or maybe she was just too tired.

"Nora, I'm really tired here. Please stop shouting." The man said.

"Awww Ren, I'm so sorry!" Nora shouted, then pointed to Blake, "See, I made a new friend!"

Ren turned to the Faunus, sighed and apologized.

"I'm sorry, Nora's a bit over passionate sometimes."

"It's fine." Blake smiled, "She saved me from some bullies."

"You live at the opposite dorm with Weiss Schnee right?" Ren asked.

"Yeah. My name is Blake Belladonna, nice to meet you." The Faunus held out her hand.

But it was Nora who took it.

"Nice to meet you too Blake! I'm Nora, and this is Ren!" The ginger said happily.

"Nora, please calm down."

As the two were talking, a white haired girl got near Blake's dorm and scanned her scroll on the lock. She looked really tired and was carrying a lot of books with her left hand.

"Sorry, I need to go now. See you, Ren and Nora." Blake smiled and hurried before her roommate.

Weiss didn't seem to notice her as she quietly settled down her books on the study table beside her bed, then limped to the bathroom after grabbing a set of clothes.

Blake looked at the girl with furrowed eyebrow; something had been bothering her and the Faunus knew exactly what it was.

Although she had called off the search, she still wanted to find the blonde. She just disappeared without saying anything and even though Weiss didn't tell Blake about the detail, she did say that she was the reason Yang took such drastic action – because she had hurt Yang. Blake had no idea how, but it sure was enough for the strongest member of the team to just vanish like that.

The Faunus closed the door lightly and shook her head.

 _Am I jealous of Yang? No…_

Honestly, she felt a little jealous, and maybe a slight of anger. Blake was just by her side, supporting her and looking after her, but it was the missing blonde who got her attention the most.

 _Look at me Weiss…please look at me…_

She sat on her bed on the other side of the room and slapped her cheeks lightly with both hands.

 _Stop thinking like that Belladonna. You shouldn't think of your friends like that! Weiss is just worried about her, and I am too!_

Sound of shower water running came from the bathroom and as Blake took off her ribbon, her cat ears caught a faint sobbing.

Weiss was hiding away from people and crying alone again.

She was always like this.

Blake didn't know if it was her ego or she just didn't want people to worry about her.

She clenched her fist; she hated to see her crush being so depressed. The only way to get her out of it was to locate Yang.

But, if she did that, then Weiss' attention would be on the blonde again…and Blake herself would stand no chance.

The Faunus let out a cry of frustration as the bathroom door opened, revealing a Schnee in blue gown. Weiss seemed to be shocked to see Blake as she didn't notice her coming in. On top of that, her eyes were watery and her lips were bleeding; Weiss knew she was worried about Yang just like herself did.

"Hey Blake." Weiss said while walking to her, hands busy drying her hair with her towel.

"Hey." Blake shifted her position a bit so that the heiress could sit beside her.

"Yang's gonna be okay." Weiss took her offer and sat down on the bed.

 _No, I'm worry about you you dummy._

"That's the thing I should be telling you." Blake said.

"What?"

"Weiss, you know you can rely on me right?" Blake gazed into the heiress' icy blue orbs.

Her mouth opened slightly; her brain trying to look for the correct respond. She could just tell Blake she was fine, but she didn't want to.

Because she wasn't.

The guilt of chasing Yang away, literally was eating her up.

She dreamed of the blonde every night; she still saw that hurtful look on her face when she slapped Yang and her heart ached.

Blake was the only one left that she could rely on.

With her family constantly away, Ruby in a coma and Yang missing, the only person left that would support her was the kind Faunus.

But, was she in the position to do so?

If she had relied on Blake to ease her guilt, then she would just be selfish.

Blake was obviously worried about her and she didn't know if she should tell her the truth.

"I know." Weiss simply answered.

"Weiss, please." Blake held her hand, "You should have a good rest."

"I'm fine, Blake. I just need some time."

"If you continue doing this, you'll get sick."

"I can handle it. If I can't, I'll come to you. Don't worry about me, Blake."

"No." Blake released her grab on the heiress' tiny hand, "I know, Weiss."

"Know what?"

"I know you have nightmare every night. I can hear your breathing and heartbeat with my…Faunus hearing. Although you did your best to not scream, those gave you out. Weiss…is there anything I can do?"

Weiss remained silent for a while before letting out a heavy sigh.

"No Blake. I just need time to get used to it."

"Weiss, if you don't want me to help…at least talk to me. Bottling everything up is very painful."

"It's fine."

"No it's not. Let me help you, Weiss." _I don't want to see those wrinkles between your eyebrows Weiss._

The heiress' eyes widened as she realized something.

 _So this is how Yang felt when I kept pushing her to tell me her feelings? Dust…_

Tears started forming in her eyes, but she stubbornly held them, not letting them flow free.

"Weiss?" The Faunus started to panic.

"I…"

Blake looked at her silently waiting for her to continue her sentence.

"I didn't know…"

"Relax Weiss, take it slowly. I'm listening." The Faunus' fatigue from training all day had gone.

"I didn't know that…it was hurting her so much…"

Blake gulped; she didn't dare to ask further.

"I told her..." The heiress continued anyway, "That…I'm not into girls…"

 _What?_

Blake almost screamed.

Everything clicked and she knew why Yang had left Weiss.

"I didn't know she liked me…If I knew…I wouldn't have…no…she…I pushed her. She was hiding her feelings and I pushed her…I slapped her when she kissed me. I chased her away and…I have no right to ask for her forgiveness Blake…"

Her heart sank like Yang's too.

Yang and she both had no chance since the very beginning.

Blake suppressed her pain and proceeded to hug the heiress.

"It's fine, Weiss. Yang will understand. Like you, she just needs time."

The heiress returned the embrace as the overflowing tears finally spilled, sobbing lightly into Blake's chest.

 _Even if you don't love me back, I still love you, Weiss._

#

Blake had introduced Weiss to Ren and Nora after that. They also introduced the monochrome pair to their other roommates, Jaune Arc and Prryha Nikos. Prryha was from Mistral, but under certain circumstances had moved to Vale.

They became friends quickly after spending a week together.

However, Blake was closer with them since all of them were taking the huntsmen courses and that left the heiress alone most of the time. Nevertheless, they still had lunch and dinner together if it was possible.

Another week had passed and there was still no news from a certain blonde brawler.

Weiss was in her way to the class when her scroll rang.

She quickly answered it, because she recognized that ringtone.

It was specifically set to identify this particular caller from the other.

"Summer?"

"Hi Weiss baby." Summer Rose's voice came from the other side of the scroll.

"Hello."

"I'm sorry to call at a time like this but…I must tell you this now."

"Wha- Is there anything happened to Ruby? Is she-" Weiss dropped her textbooks as she yelled with anxiety.

"No! Calm down Weiss, it's nothing bad." Summer quickly explained.

"Oh…" The heiress breathed out a sigh of relief, "What is it?"

"The insurance company just called. They're paying us the liens so we have enough money to move in to a better hospital."

"They finally agreed to pay?" Weiss asked.

The insurance company wouldn't agree to pay because according to them, Ruby dashed out and got hit by a car. If she didn't do that, the drunk driver wouldn't have hit her so technically it was Ruby's own responsibility.

That made of course made all of them really angry, especially the heiress. She had hired a lawyer to fight for the insurance on the court but Ruby's parents said it was fine. They even declined Weiss' offer to use the Schnee fortune to move Ruby to a better hospital in Atlas.

At first she didn't understand, but Summer reassured her that they had their ways.

"Yes." Summer answered, "Qrow and I used the power of the Huntsmen Union to apply pressure on the company. They can't just get away with it like that honey. You understand why we don't want to accept your offer now?"

"Yeah." Weiss whispered. They didn't want to trouble her – that was the very main reason.

"We'll be moving to Atlas tomorrow. Do you want to…come visit her?"

"Of course!" Weiss half yelled, "I'll be there now. Like, immediately."

"It's fine honey. You can wait till your classes are over."

"No! I must…I must see her now. Don't worry about classes Summer."

"Alright then."

After putting the fancy scroll in her pocket, she picked up her textbooks and ran to the training field.

Blake was sparring with Nora. As the heiress arrived, she just took a full blast in her stomach as the buzz rang, signaling the ginger's victory.

"Miss Fall." Weiss approached the teacher.

"Yes Miss Schnee?" Cinder Fall turned to the heiress.

She flinched a bit, but came to her sense shortly.

 _Of course she knows me._

"I'm sorry, but I have an emergency. Blake and I have to rush back to Vale now."

Cinder raised her eyebrow.

"Our friend had been rushed to a hospital. We need to see her now." Weiss half lied.

"Of course." The woman nodded, then motioned her hand to call Blake.

"What is it, Miss Fall?"

"Your friend has something to tell you. I will let the headmaster know about this, you girls can go now."

"Thank you." Weiss held Blake's hand and dashed out of the training area.

"Weiss?"

"I'll explain it later."

#

As they were in the private Schnee airship, Weiss explained the whole thing to Blake. The Faunus thanked her for preparing the transportation because they had to wait another hour before the next flight if they were to take public transport.

The airship landed just near to the hospital as both dashed out to see Ruby.

If their friend was moved to Atlas, then they wouldn't be able to see her that often already.

Qrow and Summer greeted them as they arrived.

The Rose-Branwen family would move to Atlas too as it was easier for them to visit their daughter. They had let the Belladonnas take care of their house here in Vale as they planned to rent them out to people.

The monochrome pair then helped the couple to pack things up in their house. They knew how tired Qrow and Summer were, but they could only do so much to help them out.

After finishing the dinner prepared by the skilled huntress, Weiss and Blake had gone to pay Secret Base a visit.

The route was still the same as they had remembered it.

They were greeted by a blast of red and gold as they reached Secret Base as it was fall at the moment. First they talked to Topaz a bit, then cleaned his grave and lastly they sat on those huge rocks beside the lake, gazing at the galaxy of stars in the dark sky.

Blake sensed the uneasiness emitted by the girl beside her.

"Weiss, what is it?"

"What is what?"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you thinking about Yang again?"

Weiss jumped slightly upon listening to the tone the Faunus used.

She recognized it.

"I was just thinking about moving to Atlas too."

"I see…"

Both didn't say anything for a while.

"Weiss."

"Yes?"

"I uh…wherever you go…I'll be with you." Blake avoided looking at her.

Blue orbs widened.

Weiss understood the true meaning.

"Blake, I…"

"I know." Blake answered in a low voice, "I don't mind. I'll make peace just by being around you."

"Blake, don't…"

"It's okay Weiss. I won't run away. And you didn't hurt me so you shouldn't blame yourself."

Weiss honestly didn't expect Blake to feel that way about her too.

So it wasn't just Yang?

"I knew about Yang's feelings for you." Blake said as a breeze brushed through her hair, making it danced in the dark, "Since a long time ago."

All this time, it wasn't just Yang who was hiding her own feelings.

Blake was too, and the hurt could be just as much as Yang's.

Weiss didn't understand why two of her best friends fell for her, and she thought they shouldn't.

Because the heiress didn't deserve their love.

She was always on the receiving end, watching people getting hurt because of her and she was tired of this. She wanted to just disappear and perhaps it would make them feel better.

"Blake, I don't want to hurt you."

"I just told you you didn't."

"Even if I didn't, I will."

"No Weiss. I've been through all these difficult things because you're supporting me. You didn't hurt me; you helped me."

Unable to argue anymore the heiress just hugged her knees close to her chest, hiding her expression while silently blaming herself.

 _I'm really sorry, Yang and Blake._

 **#**

 **I haven't really had the mood to write this, but I don't wanna keep you guys waiting.**

 **I'm pretty stressed now so the quality of this might not be good. Nevertheless, thank you for reading my story.**

 **Please support me on Pa-treon as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories.**

 **I do not own RWBY.**


	18. Chapter 18 - Parted

**Here, chapter 18.**

 **Please support me on Pa-treon as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories.**

 **I do not own RWBY. Rooster Teeth does.**

 **#**

 **Chapter 18: Parted**

Weiss pretended to fall asleep on the private airship on their way back to Patch Island.

The girl stubbornly refused to lean on Blake's shoulder, as it reminded her of a certain brawler.

Just right after the Summer Festival – although vague, she remembered it. The warmth sensation of a broad shoulder she was leaning on in the car while they were heading toward Dragon Tears Forest.

She didn't think much that time; she was tired and sleepy.

Now with Yang's disappearance, whatever she did reminded her of that blonde.

Leaning on someone's shoulder was included.

Her actions had already hurt Yang so much; she didn't want Blake to get hurt too.

The closer they were together, the more guilty Weiss felt. But, she couldn't force herself to turn gay just to be together with Blake so that the Faunus wouldn't get hurt. She knew if she did that, in the end both of them would be wounded even more severely and Weiss didn't want that to happen. She had hurt the people she loved enough.

Blake shifted her position slightly, but Weiss didn't open her eyes. Shortly after, she felt a warm scarf being tied around her neck.

She was surprised by this sudden gesture.

 _Please…don't be so kind to me…it hurts…_

Weiss knew that even if Blake claimed she would make peace just by being around Weiss, it wasn't true at all.

#

Blake didn't expect Ren and Nora to be waiting for her when they arrived at the docks.

"We're worried about you." Ren said. Although he looked really mature (Blake didn't expect him to be of the same age as her) and expressionless, he did care about people around him a lot.

"Yeah, are you two alright?" Nora's voice was low; she didn't want to wake up the sleeping heiress.

Blake was carrying her bridal style as they made their way back to the building where their dorms were located.

"If you need us, please don't hesitate to ask." Ren said, then wished them good night before retreating to their own dorm.

"Sure. Good night." Blake answered before closing the door.

Jaune and Prryha were asking the sloths about the monochrome pair; they were concerned about the two girls too but didn't go to the docks with Ren and Nora. They decided too much people would only disturb them.

"Do you think they'll be alright?" Nora whispered to Ren.

They were sleeping on their respective beds, but Nora had taken this chance to sneak into Ren's. Of course, she had to wait until Jaune and Prryha fell asleep before doing so, or else they would be bombarded with questions.

"I don't know, Nora." Ren shifted a bit so that the girl would be more comfortable.

"They've been like that since we first met them. I wonder if stuff was always like that…you know, since Blake developed a crush on Weiss?" Nora moved in closer to Ren.

"I don't think Blake had told Weiss yet." Ren whispered.

"But Weiss doesn't show any sign of liking her." Nora sighed, "I think that's why Blake never told her anything."

"It's pretty obvious though."

"U-huh. It's easy to sense it when you get to know them more."

Nora closed her eyes, recalling how Ren and her had noticed the Faunus stealing glances at the heiress; how her cat ears perked up (She told them about her secret as she trusted them) whenever Weiss came to view; the subtle change in her eyes and lips when Weiss talked.

Ren thought Prryha also knew about it, but chose to keep quiet.

"I just hope they'll be fine." Ren said.

"Yeah…I think Blake and her are meant for each other."

"Weiss never showed any sign of romantic interest. Maybe she is ace?"

"I don't think so…"

"Let's just watch over them and don't think too much, Nora." Ren smiled.

"Mmhmm. Good night, Ren."

"You're sleeping here again?"

"Let's cuddle like we always do in the orphanage." Nora grinned sheepishly, "It's getting cold lately."

"Just make sure you wake up before Jaune does."

"Why Jaune?"

"I think Prryha knows. She knows everything, she just doesn't talk about it."

"…"

"Good night, Nora."

"Boop~"

#

Blake didn't expect Weiss to be such heavy sleeper.

Even if she carried her all the way from the docks to the dorm, the heiress showed no sign of waking up.

Blake knew she just pretended to be asleep in the airship, as her Faunus hearing could spot the difference of her breathings. She never expected Weiss to actually fall asleep and didn't wake up even after all those big movements and sounds.

 _She must be blaming herself all the time…_

The Faunus meant it when she said she would just make peace by being around her.

Of course, if it was possible she would want to go one step further, but she didn't really mind if Weiss didn't reciprocate her feelings.

Seeing the heiress' smiling face was the most important thing in the world.

 _I can bear with it. I can bear with the pain. I won't leave like Yang…_

She covered Weiss with her blue colored blanket and sat down beside her, silently watching her sleeping face.

It wasn't peaceful at all.

She was certain that Weiss was having a nightmare.

But she could do nothing to help her.

 _I'm sorry…I'm just beside you, and yet I can't make you happy…I guess you really want Yang more…_

 _Ah, what am I thinking! Stop thinking nonsense you stupid brain!_

The Faunus knew that Yang's disappearance upset Weiss very much and she was really jealous of the blonde. Even if Weiss just felt guilty and wanted to apologize, she still couldn't shake off the thoughts that Weiss paid more attention to Yang who was missing than her who watched over the heiress all the time.

"Good night, Weiss." Blake placed a gentle kiss on the heiress' forehead.

#

The next day, Weiss' classes were cancelled as all the professors need to retake some qualification exams in Beacon Academy. She had decided to use her time to study at the library, so she took all the materials needed and walked to the second library that was near to her dorm.

It was empty.

She was scribing things on her notebook when the library door opened, revealing a rather handsome young man who looked like a senior. He was wearing a vest on his white undershirt with black slacks and a turquoise colored tie around his neck. The man looked around and when his eye fell on Weiss, he was surprised as he jumped a little.

He scratched his head while walking slowly to the heiress.

"Hey…"

Weiss frowned; she didn't know the man, but judging from his actions, he was about to flirt with her.

"Hi."

"You're…Weiss Schnee right?"

"Yes I am." The heiress answered impatiently.

"I uh…my name is Flynt Coal."

"Hello."

"I was wondering if…"

The library door opened again at this very moment as a girl in black clothing stepped in.

Her amber eyes spotted Flynt and Weiss talking. Flynt was scratching his head all the time and he was blushing – and Blake immediately understood.

She gulped and suppressed the jealousy within her heart as she remained her trademark poker face, silently withdrawing from the library.

Her coming didn't go unnoticed by Weiss.

The heiress saw everything; she saw the subtle change of expression on Blake's face; she saw how she bit her lips trying to refrain herself from exposing.

And it hurt.

A lot.

"Weiss? Are you listening?" Flynt's voice brought her back to reality.

"I'm…sorry. I want to focus on my study first before romance." The heiress made up an excuse.

"Oh…I understand." Flynt kept his gentleman attitude, "Thanks and sorry for bothering you."

"It's fine."

#

It was lunch time soon and Weiss had to go to the cafeteria to meet up with Team JNPR. They had promised to have meals together every day.

Which meant she would meet Blake.

She had no idea why the Faunus would go to the library when she was supposed to be training.

And the worst thing was her timing.

 _I thought things like this would only happen in a novel or some cliché movies._

Weiss sighed as she made her way to the cafeteria.

Team JNPR and Blake was sitting at the corner near to the fish cuisines corner (She wasn't even surprised by it anymore) so she went to join them.

"Hello Weiss."

"Hiya Weiss!"

"Hello again!"

Ren, Nora and Prryha greeted while Jaune was busy mumbling about a bruise on his arm.

According to the shape, he had likely sparred with Nora.

Magnhild definitely wasn't just an ordinary warhammer; and so as the wielder.

"Good afternoon." Weiss greeted as she sat down beside Blake.

Usually, the Faunus would greet Weiss with a gentle smile but today she was obviously spacing out that she didn't even notice movements beside her.

Weiss heart ached seeing her friend like this.

 _Maybe…I should do something for her to hate me so that she'll stop loving me…_

But she couldn't do that.

She didn't want Blake to hate her.

 _Wait, does that mean I love her too…?_

"Here." Ren who was sitting at the opposite of the heiress pushed a bowl of salad to her, "Ordered it for you."

"Ah, thank you." Weiss smiled as she took it.

Blake was snapped out of her thoughts when Ren talked; she quickly greeted Weiss with a forced smile.

The rest of the meal time went by in complete silent, other than Jaune's groaning because his arm hurt.

Weiss went back to her dorm while the other huntsmen and huntresses went back to their training.

She didn't know what to do.

Whenever she was conflicted, she would go to Ruby, but seeing as the girl was in coma – and was transferred to Atlas on top of that, she had no one to go to.

The only people she knew in Vale were the Belladonnas and the Rose-Branwen household. The latter went to Atlas with their daughter and Bart was always busy. That left Beatrix, Blake's mother; but she couldn't possibly go to her because it was about her daughter.

 _Wait, there is one more person that I can talk to…_

Weiss took her scroll and dialed a number.

"Torchwick." A deep male voice came from the other side of the scroll.

"Hello Roman."

"Ah, Weiss. It's rare for you to call, what's up?"

"Are you free now?"

"I'm at an animal shelter at the moment. What is it?"

"Can I join you there? I…" The heiress hesitated for a while.

Roman was a mature adult, and very much like Yang he was a good listener. He kept secret pretty well too and he was very experienced.

Maybe Weiss could seek help from him.

"I kind of…need help with something…"

"Sure." The man replied, "I'll send the address to you. I'll be waiting near the dog section."

"Alright, thank you."

Weiss just threw everything on her bed, grabbed Myrtenaster and went out to the docks.

#

The animal shelter was just a small one located a few streets away from Roman's clinic.

Weiss was greeted by a rabbit Faunus when she reached there, and she had brought the heiress to Roman.

She recognized the Faunus.

There was no way she would forget about her…and her girlfriend.

It was the couple on the street the day she hung out with Yang in the central shopping district.

"Thank you…"

"Oh, the name is Velvet!" The rabbit Faunus smiled. She had a beautiful accent that Weiss couldn't recognize.

"Right. Thank you, Velvet."

"Sure! Have a nice day!" The girl left when Roman came to view.

The man was sitting on the floor, surrounded by different dogs as he pet them with a bright smile on his face.

Weiss quickly shook her head to get rid of Topaz's images forming in her brain; that was not why she came here.

Roman was busy dealing with the dogs that he didn't notice the heiress arriving, so she took the initiative to greet him.

"Roman."

"Oh hi!" The man gently pushed a big dog away and patted the space beside him, "C'mere."

Weiss took the offer and sat beside him; a small corgi instantly hopped up her lap.

"Oh, Zwei likes you." Roman chuckled.

The heiress scratched his ears and belly as the corgi turned over, displaying his trust on her.

"So…what do you need help with?"

"Remember I told you…that Yang left because of me?"

"That's what you told everyone."

"But I didn't go into the detail."

"U-huh."

"Well…you see…" The heiress tried to form a proper sentence in her brain. "Yang left…because I did something hurtful to her."

"I see…"

"And uh…now, I've done something…really hurtful to Blake too…"

"You're scared that kitty will leave you too?"

"No…" Weiss held her urge to cry, "You see…I can't tell you the exact thing I've done…but…it had hurt Yang and it is still hurting Blake…I don't want them to get hurt because of me…"

"Love is not something you can control, little girl." Roman smiled, "You see, they chose to love you and it's not your responsibility."

Weiss looked at the doctor with an expression of shock and panic.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. It's pretty obvious though." Roman shrugged, "I don't know about kitty, but Yang is really bad at hiding stuff even though she thinks she's good. And judging from the same way you talked about the both of them, I'm pretty certain that kitty's the same."

"I just…don't want any of the people I love to get hurt." Weiss sighed, "I wish I can just disappear…or turn back time."

"Now you're being unrealistic."

"Yang confessed to me before she disappeared." Weiss continue to rub Zwei's belly, "But, in a…bad condition. The stress from Ruby being hospitalized and…the pain accumulated since I told her that…I am not into girls…kind of made her snap."

Roman put a hand on Weiss' shoulder, silently encouraging her to go on.

"And when she snapped…I snapped too. Things just got out of control and she left."

A pause.

"It's all my fault. And now…Blake's confessed too…but she said she'll be happy when she's around me…even if I don't reciprocate her feelings. And it hurt to see her like this."

"That's what you need my help for?"

"Mmhmm…"

"I can't help you with this Weiss." The man shook his head, "It's not your problem. It's perfectly normal to not feel the same way to someone who has a crush on you and you shouldn't blame yourself. They will have to walk out of it."

"I see…"

"Maybe…you can try to put some distance between you and kitty cat." Roman suggested, "You don't like her back?"

"I…I just can't…turn gay because of her. I mean, I don't have feelings for her and if I force myself to…we'll both get hurt. Like you say, love comes naturally and it's not something that I can control."

"Well then did you make it clear to Blake that you can't accept her feelings?"

"Crystal." Weiss sobbed lightly, "That's why she said it's okay even if I don't like her back."

"This is complicated."

Indeed; if they were just normal friends or even strangers, things would've been very easy.

But, the three of them were best friends that would die for one another. Situation like this was very difficult because of the relationships.

"Well, I don't really have any advice to give. Just maybe try to distance a bit and draw the line clear between 'friends' and 'lovers'."

"Okay. Thanks Roman…"

"You're welcome."

Her scroll rang all of a sudden, startling the both of them as well as the dogs in the room.

The screen showed Blake's face.

"Hello? Blake?" The heiress answered it.

"Weiss! Are you alright?"

"Huh?"

Blake was panting and sounded really worried.

"I'm fine, Blake. I'm at an animal shelter."

"Oh Dust…I couldn't find you anywhere in Signal and I thought…because you didn't let me know that you'll be heading there…I thought…"

"I'm sorry…" Weiss apologized.

The two of them would always let each other know their locations, like leaving a note or something on the study table. Weiss rushed out just now and apparently had forgotten to let Blake know her whereabouts.

Guilt washed her as she apologized again to the Faunus.

 _Don't be so kind to me…Blake…I don't deserve it._

"I'll be back in about an hour." Weiss said softly, "I'm really sorry…"

"It's okay. Glad to know you're safe."

 _Sorry, Blake…_

#

Weiss sat on the airship back to Patch while recalling the incident just now.

When she walked out of the animal shelter after hanging up her scroll, she saw that tall human girl wearing sunglasses coming to pick up Velvet. And this time, the girl had kissed the Faunus on the lips without caring if anyone was watching, unlike when they were on the street that day.

Surprisingly, Weiss didn't feel anything.

She wasn't really fond of same sex relationship when she was with Yang in the central shopping district before the latter went missing, but now she felt like she didn't mind of it at all.

Yang and Blake's confession had changed her a lot.

Still, she couldn't decide that she liked girls just because she didn't mind it.

She needed to figure it out and make things really clear before doing anything, so for now having a little distance between her and Blake was the best option.

One step wrong, and they could really end up hurting each other in the worst way.

#

After that, Weiss started avoiding Blake a little.

She didn't know how to put distance between them, so she decided she would just not see the Faunus that much. That way, maybe Blake's feelings for her would disappear eventually, right?

But boy she was so wrong.

No matter how much she tried to distance herself from Blake, to put up a thin layer of glass between them like how Yang did, Blake always would break through it.

When Weiss waited until late night to go back to the dorm to avoid having conversation with the Faunus, she waited for her the whole night.

When she purposely sat with Team JNPR at the opposite of Blake, the latter would always push the bowl of salad to her that she pre-ordered.

When she buried herself in study to forget about this, she would always end up falling asleep and when she woke up the next day, her blanket would be covering her body.

She couldn't take it anymore. Blake would always break her defenses no matter how painful it was for her. And this had made the heiress even guiltier.

Two weeks had passed as winter approached.

And that was the time Weiss couldn't take it anymore.

She did what her friend was the best at – she ran.

She moved to Atlas without telling any of them beforehand.

All she left was a note.

 _Please forget me and live on. I'm really sorry, Blake. I don't want you to get hurt every minute because of me._

Blake held the note tight and collapsed to the floor, sobbing intensely.

Weiss had drawn the final line of defense that was impossible for her to destroy.

And it had destroyed her instead.

Sure, it was painful being around her crush that never loved her back, but it was more painful to not see her, not being able to touch her.

That was what Blake feared of all this time.

And it had happened.

Team JNPR burst into her dorm immediately after hearing those heartbreaking sobs. They comforted her and told her that she still had them.

Yes, she still had Ren, Nora, Prryha and Jaune – as well as her parents. She could still rely on them; she could survive this.

Maybe when everyone was calm enough…maybe when everyone was mature enough, they could see each other again to thoroughly solve this problem.

All they need was time.

She could do this.

She could face all of this with her beloved friends and family's support-

-But thing weren't always so smooth, because she received a call a few days later, from the Vale Police Department.

Her parents died in an accident.

 **#**

 **Because I've tortured Ruby, Yang and Weiss. It's Blake's turn now.**

 **Anyway thanks for reading, and I'm sorry it took so long to update. Sorry too if this chapter doesn't meet your expectation.**

 **Anyone get the real meaning of the title of this chapter?**

 **Please support me on Pa-treon as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories.**

 **I do not own RWBY.**


	19. Chapter 19 - Black and Yellow

**Heh, you having hope that things will get better?**

 **Nah, I'm evil af.**

 **Warning: There's a bit of time jump in this chapter. Also, some adult theme.**

 **You can support me on Pa-treon as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories.**

 **I do not own RWBY. Rooster Teeth does.**

 **#**

 **Chapter 19: Black and Yellow**

Blake's parents were victims of the massive avalanche happened in Vale yesterday.

Beatrix was probably helping Bart to get wood supply for the shop when it happened – and it took the police over twenty four hours to find their bodies.

Team JNPR had taken a day off to accompany the Faunus to Vale PD to retrieve Beatrix and Bart's bodies.

"Why…" She sobbed, kneeling in front of her lifeless parents.

She mumbled something inaudible to her friends as she continued to weep.

#

Blake did not break the news to anyone.

She didn't even want to move; she just lied on her bed for a few days, and it took all of Team JNPR's energy just to shove food into her mouth.

A week passed by then, she hadn't been attending class since her parents passed away. If she continued on this self-destructive path, she would very much likely to get sick.

But she didn't care.

Her life was over anyway; her family was gone, her friends were gone – and so was her crush.

Under Nora's suggestion the team had agreed on taking turn to be with the Faunus. They talked to Miss Fall and the woman had agreed on this, letting each member of the team take a day off to take care of Blake. She however said that if Blake didn't attend any classes for another week, she would be kicked out of Signal.

It was Monday presently and there was an important exam for the huntsmen and huntresses in training. Thus, no member of Team JNPR was able to stay with her.

Blake decided to take this chance to sneak out into the city.

She didn't know what to do with her life now, so she at least wanted to take a look at the house she grew up in.

Days of lacking proper nutrition had made her extremely fragile. She had to use the gates and walls in the city to support herself as she limped towards the Belladonna house.

"Ah!" She yelped weakly when she bumped into a tall man.

The man quickly held her with both his hands before Blake collapsed onto the ground. She vaguely remembered him asking if she was fine, and the last thing she saw before fainting was red.

#

"Uh…" The Faunus groaned as she got up from a…bed?

 _Where am I?_

Opening her eyes she scanned the surrounding thoroughly. It was dark and she had to use her night vision to be able to see.

She was sitting on a soft bed; there was an old wooden table beside her with a glass of water on it; the walls were made of solid wood and it smelled like dust here.

"You awake?"

Blake flinched as she turned to face the voice defensively.

A man was leaning against the opened door, crossing his arms while looking at her.

Well, he wasn't exactly looking at her, because the eyes that were supposed to be there was empty. It was two blank holes in his eye sockets.

"…Where am I?" Blake asked when she noticed that the man was a Faunus too just like herself.

There was a strange telepathy between the Faunus – they could sense if the other Faunus had an ill intention or not. It was a great advantage for them, but sadly they couldn't use it on human.

The man did not emit those feelings, so Blake felt safe enough to talk to him.

"My house. You fainted on the street just now, little girl." The man wasn't making any movement.

"I see…" Blake shifted to the edge of the bed, getting ready to stand up and go back to Signal, "Thanks for helping me."

"Hey." The man walked to her quickly to stop her from getting up, "You need to eat before you can move."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Blake frowned.

"To thank you I guess." The man smiled, "For not asking me about my eyes."

Blake could understand what he meant by that; it was common for people to question or to stare at those voids.

"You can tell where I am?" The Faunus asked, "Even if you can't see me?"

"I can smell you." The man said; Blake noticed two bull horns on his flaming red hair, "Or sense your aura. I can't tell how you look like, but I can tell each individual apart."

"I see…"

"What is your name, little girl?"

"Blake. What about you?"

"Adam. Adam Taurus."

#

Adam sent her back to Signal after they had dinner together in his house. The man wore bandages around his eyes whenever he went out on the street, and Blake found it amusing how he could just act like normal people despite being blind.

He knew the directions; he could even tell if there was a hole or a bump in front of him and stepped over it precisely.

"Hey…Blake?" Adam said as they got near the docks.

"Yeah?"

"I don't know what got you so upset. But, if you need someone, you can come to me."

"Thanks." The Faunus smiled.

Blake knew the man was interested in her, but she just saw him as a friend. Sure, Team JNPR cared a lot about her, but there was just something different with Adam. Maybe it was because he was a Faunus too.

But Blake knew more than that.

She knew Adam had gone through dark times because of his eyes; she knew he was wounded too just like herself. That formed some sort of connection between the two.

Maybe Adam could help her get out of it.

She still loved a certain heiress very much, but if there was a possibility of getting rid of that excruciating feeling…maybe she could try.

It would do both parties well – both Weiss and her.

They wouldn't have to get hurt so much.

And most importantly, Weiss wouldn't have to suffer.

#

Blake started seeing Adam more and more often after that. While Team JNPR was happy because she finally walked out of depression, they didn't think that being with the bull Faunus was a good idea.

They knew he was dangerous.

Nothing was known about his background; he had no family and friends at all. He was incredibly powerful yes, but he had no sympathy.

He saw the world in total black and white; he would form a clear line between what he thought was good and bad. He wouldn't hesitate to destroy anything – anyone in his path if he wanted to achieve something.

He also didn't seem to like human. Not that he had anything against Team JNPR, but they had a feeling that whoever did that to his eyes were humans and that he really hated them.

And Blake didn't seem to notice all of that.

She defended him most of the time and claimed that she felt no ill intention coming from the man. While that was very true, that didn't mean the man harbored no ill intention towards the people surrounding Blake.

The Faunus was so desperate to release herself from the pain of loving the heiress she neglected what was most important to her.

They started dating a month later and Adam loved her very much.

Too much in fact – he wanted Blake all to himself.

He would hurt whoever trying to ogle her and being extremely protective; he would whisper sweet things in her ears when they went out for a date; he would occasionally surprise Blake with her favorite food and pretty flowers.

Blake thought that she had genuinely fallen for him.

Adam agreed to be her mentor and she finally left Signal after half a year since she started dating him. She trusted her life with her boyfriend; they were both wounded beasts that relied on each other to fill up the empty hole in their hearts.

She believed that, after spending enough time with Adam, she would eventually moved on from loving Weiss and when they saw each other again, perhaps, they wouldn't feel the pain anymore.

So, after apologizing and bidding farewell to Ren, Nora, Prryha and Jaune, she left.

#

Five years had passed since then.

Yang Xiao Long, eighteen year old had become a freelance huntress that was famous enough in the black market – but not enough for her friends to locate her.

She had never contacted any of the people from her past ever since she chose to run.

That slap the heiress gave her when she attempted to touch her was still very vivid in her mind. She could still feel the hurt, the shock of rejection.

The reason that even the elite forces of Schnee family couldn't find her was simple.

It was all because of this man named Junior Xiong.

She found a cheap apartment to live in thanks to the man; it was located in downtown vale at a place full of lowlifes and thugs. Normal people wouldn't even want to get near this place so it was the perfect spot for her to hide.

No one in the place dared to lay a finger on her too as the place was secretly ruled by Junior.

Despite being extremely powerful and had a great influence in the place Junior Xiong was actually a pretty decent man. He played by certain code and that earned him genuine respect from his men and the gangsters in the area.

Thanks to the man she also upgraded Ember Celica to assist her in her missions. She took them from the assignment board in Junior's club to not expose her location to her friends. Every mission that was on that board was under Junior's name; he let the freelance huntsmen and huntresses in the black market to execute it for him and he would take commission from the payment.

In other word, he was the middleman.

And Yang did not care about that. The payment was enough for her to pay the bills and even drink in Junior's club.

She would only take S or A level missions – and often missions like that required a party to be carried out. But she needed no companions; she could handle it well alone.

That was what made her famous – she was known by the black market as 'The Berserker'.

Presently, she was sitting alone in Junior's club, drinking as she recalled her past.

Junior had established a rather close relationship to her despite her grabbing his balls on the first day she burst her way in here.

When she finally opened up to the man about her past – the reason she ran, everything she did, she was fifteen. He just sighed and told her that Ruby Rose was moved to Atlas two years ago with her two legendary huntsmen parents.

She wanted to rush there and take a good look at whom she considered her little sister, but she couldn't. She didn't visit her in the past two years, and she didn't dare to do so because she was afraid that she would run into her old friends…to run into a certain heiress. She was also conflicted because she still felt guilty.

Another three years passed then when she finally heard some news of her crush.

Even after five years, Yang could not forget about Weiss.

At all.

She loved her and wouldn't possibly stop loving her.

She kept an eye on the news to see if there was anything related to the heiress – or even her best friend Blake.

Junior offered to provide her some intel, but she had refused it. She wanted to see it with her own eyes.

Lilac orbs scanned through the news in her scroll.

 _Heiress to the largest company in the world has officially inherited it from the former CEO Walter Schnee._

"Congratulation, Weiss." She smiled faintly and proceeded to gulp down the cup of Strawberry Sunrise.

"Feeling lonely there little dragon?" A girl in white clothing sat beside her while crossing her legs with her back facing the counter; she trailed her index finger lightly on the blonde's arm.

"Because we are." Another girl in red clothing with short hair did the same thing on the other side of Yang.

"I'm always lonely." Yang answered, her tone unreadable, "But I guess I'm up for some exercise tonight."

"Lovely." The short haired girl smirked.

"Hey girls, your shift isn't over yet." Junior approached them.

"What, Junior? You have men all over your club, what are you worrying about?" Yang smirked too as she spun both girls around so that they would face the man, then proceeded to wrap her arms around their waists.

"What if someone breaks in? You know how…weak my men are. And I can't handle them alone." Junior scowled.

"Relax boss." The girl in red clothing said, "Only Yang would be crazy enough to break in your place. Right, Melanie?"

"Right, Miltia." Melanie answered as she leaned closer to the blonde, "She's the only one that ever did that to your club. It's never happened before and after she destroyed your place."

Junior pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"Is that a yes?" Yang smirked.

"Whatever, blondie." Junior waved his hands, "Just…use the training room. Don't bring them to your house or do it here inside the club. I don't need another renovation and...I need them in case…another crazy blonde breaks in."

"Sure." Yang said as she stood up, lifting the sisters on one each arm and walked towards the specially built room at the third floor that the twins and her used to train all the time.

#

Yang fought with the Malachite sisters just for the sake of releasing stress.

There was no hatred involved between them; they sparred for benefits. Working as bodyguards in Junior's club was boring, because it wasn't every day that someone skilled enough would break in and tear the place apart.

Most of the time, they were just gangsters which even Junior's men could handle.

Yang got ready with Ember Celica as the two sisters posed their battle stance.

"Come at me, girls." She smirked.

Melanie shifted from her current position to dash towards the blonde, effectively throwing kicks at her.

Miltiades didn't even wait for her sister's call; she leaped towards Yang while trying to land a punch on her vulnerable side.

After fighting for a while, the smile on Yang's face had disappeared.

The twins were serious.

Metallic sounds were heard when Ember Celica clashes with the twins' weapons.

Miltiades's claw successfully tore Yang's jacket as she was sent flying backwards.

"Ugh!" Yang groaned as she struggled to stand up.

A large scar was revealed immediately on her right arm.

The Malachite sisters still weren't used to seeing that horrible scar; during Yang's first mission as a freelance huntress, she was severely injured by an alpha Ursa.

It was a miracle she could make it back to the club. Melanie and Miltiades treated her immediately when she limped her way into the place.

"Sorry, Yang." The twins apologized.

"It's fine." Yang wiped the blood on the corner of her mouth, "Just can't concentrate."

The sisters looked at each other; they knew what made Yang lost her concentration. They saw the news of Weiss Schnee's inheriting SDC from her father on the TV as every single news channel were reporting the same thing.

"We'll get you a new jacket." Miltiades said.

"Thanks girls." The blonde smiled, "I need to rest now."

"You can come to our room if you want to." Melanie walked near to the blonde, "I know you're tired."

"Sure."

#

It was morning already when the three of them woke up. Yang kissed the head of both sisters who were sleeping soundly on each side of her; they had the habit of sleeping on the same bed in the twins' room whenever Yang was too tired or too drunk to go back to her own apartment.

"Hey, girls, wake up."

They both groaned.

"Okay."

She forcefully pushed the sisters away so that she could move.

"Yang!" Melanie shouted.

"Sorry girls, time to work."

With that, she left the two girls in the VIP room and headed out to the club after snatching the backup jacket she stored in the twin's wardrobe.

Junior was updating the mission board when Yang approached.

"Morning blondie." He greeted, not evening turning his head to look at Yang.

"Mornin'." Yang put on her jacket, "Anything good?"

"Nope." The man answered immediately.

"You're lying."

Junior sighed as he shook his head and walked towards the stairs that led to the second floor.

Yang took her sweet time to properly wear her outfit; she had changed her outfit from that usual brown jacket with orange scarf to a new one with black raised collar and a strap over her collarbone. She named it the 'hunter' outfit.

"Oh, you can't fool me silly." The blonde smirked as she removed a piece of paper that was covering the other one.

 _Mission level: SS_

 _Description: Suspicious cave found at the South East of Vale. Eyewitnesses confirmed about the presence of at least two Alpha Grimm. Huntsmen are required to investigate the cave thoroughly and compile a report to the Huntsmen Union. A party of four skilled huntsmen is recommended._

 _Requestor: Huntsmen Union_

 _Agent: Miles Luna_

 _Payment: 400,000 LIENS._

 _Due date: None_

"Miles Luna?" Yang repeated the name, trying really hard to recall where she had heard this familiar name and saw that familiar picture.

She squeaked a little when she finally remembered it.

It was during her first time going out with Weiss, the man with messy hair and beard congratulating his friend for soloing the DDR machine.

"Nice. Four thousand k liens huh…that's lovely." She smirked.

 _SS level mission, here I come._

 **#**

 **Yep, Yang is finally back after missing for two chapters.**

 **I'm sorry for the massive time jump.**

 **I had no idea how to name this chapter, and since it was about both Blake and Yang, I named it Black and Yellow.**

 **FYI, levels of mission according to difficulty:**

 **SSS, SS, S, A, B, C. SS is the most difficult and C is the easiest.**

 **This chapter is a bit short. In fact, I uploaded chapter 18 just now and this chapter was rushed after that. Please bear with me.**

 **#**

 **For those of you who are confused about the timeline:**

 **1\. Blake left with Adam at the age of thirteen, half a year or maybe more passed since she started studying in Signal. Her birthday hasn't arrived yet so I consider her thirteen.**

 **2\. Yang met Junior immediately after she left. Imagine their meeting scene as the yellow trailer, but instead of looking for someone she was looking for a place where she would never be found by Weiss. She started training for skills with the Malachite twins. When she's skilled enough, she took missions.**

 **3\. Two years after Yang ran, she was fifteen, and that's the time she finally told Junior about her past. Junior told her about Ruby being moved to Atlas two years ago, when she was thirteen (She had no idea since they don't contact each other). Junior knew about that beforehand because Summer Rose and Qrow Branwen were famous huntsmen.**

 **4\. Three years after that, the time was 'current'. All of them were eighteen at this time (Ruby two years younger). She always fought with the twins after their shift, this chapter being the first time Yang broke the rules.**


	20. Chapter 20 - Beast

**NOTE: I changed the last chapter a bit. Feel free to check it out. I received a review about the chapter and after re-reading it a few times, I feel like a change would only make it better. I was too sleepy yesterday night when I posted so I guess it's not that ideal and it became a fan service chapter. I apologize.**

 **NOTE AGAIN: I deleted this chapter just now because there were too many errors. I've edited it and this is the latest version. I'm sorry!**

 **#**

 **Yes, it's going dark.**

 **Yes, it's getting nearer to Weiss and Yang's reunion in chapter 1.**

 **If you like my stories, you can support me on Pa-treon as 'The Tanker'. I also have a FB with the name "IBurn 'Tank' RWBY Fanfic Author".**

 **I do not own RWBY. If I do, Lancaster will NEVER be canon.**

 **#**

 **Chapter 20: Beast**

"Blake."

The Faunus turned to her boyfriend slash mentor. She was sitting on a rock near Forever Fall, taking her sweet time to admire the wonder of red surrounding her.

Blake had grown up a lot since she left Signal. She was way taller now and had more muscles due to the training with her mentor.

She lived with Adam in his house and they would train near an abandoned farm everyday.

Approximately a year after, they were recruited into the White Fang. Blake was more than happy to join the force because not only did they fought for Faunus right, but they did it in a calm and peaceful demeanor.

That was, until Adam became the leader.

Peaceful protests were turned into organized attacks; they would set fire to the shops that refused to serve them - all kinds of violent activities were carried out.

At first, Adam convinced her that they were accidents. They had to kill in a fight, or they would be the ones killed. Blake wasn't sure, but she believed her boyfriend.

Then it gradually became self-defense; he always had ways to justify his actions. In the end, it was an inevitable decision in order to light the fire of revolution. Under the lead of Adam they targeted the Schnee Dust Company; although they didn't have anything against the Faunus, Adam felt that by attacking the biggest company in the world, it would leave a great impact on the governments.

"It's time."

Blake turned to the bull Faunus; he started wearing Grimm mask ever since they joined the White Fang.

"Okay."

When they were running towards the train that carried a large amount of Dust, Blake began to think that this was wrong.

SDC didn't do anything to them; in fact, they helped the Faunus a lot. Blake knew her crush had taken over the company a few days ago and she did everything she could to grow their influence. Then, they would help the Faunus that weren't treated right or misguided back to the correct path.

She justified this mission by repeatedly telling herself that it was just Dust robbing. No one would be harmed in the process.

Adam needed a significant amount of Dust for the White Fang members; thus, this mission was basically killing two birds with one stone. Warn the public on what the White Fang was capable of, and of course, preparing their ammo.

With a jump they got onto the train; Adam slashed the tight vault apart with ease as they broke into the cart.

As they landed, they were surrounded by guardian robots.

"Looks like we're gonna be doing this the hard way." Adam said.

The robots all activated at the same time; they glowed in red light and the masks covered their faces immediately. They turned towards the two intruders as they got into battle stances.

"Don't be so dramatic." Blake replied as she grabbed Gambol Shroud.

The head of the robots pointed its arms that were made of machine guns at them and soon a monotone voice was heard.

"Intruder, identify yourself."

Adam nodded and Blake took the hint.

Clashes of metals and gunfire were heard as the two fought their way to the front carts.

After some intense battles, they arrived at the cart that held the most expensive type of Dust.

The bull Faunus opened the chest and smirked.

"Perfect. Move on to the next cart. I'll set the charges." He turned to his girlfriend.

Blake frowned immediately.

"What about the crew members?"

"What about them?" Adam said coldly.

This was it.

Blake couldn't recognize this monster in front of her anymore. He was no longer the Adam Taurus that she knew; he had finally turned into a cold-blooded devil.

 _Your hopes have become my burden. I will find my own liberation…_

The Faunus started to think that being with Adam was a bad idea.

She still loved Weiss.

Although she tried to use Adam to forget about the heiress, she couldn't. Five years passed and Blake's feelings for the man never changed.

They called each other boyfriend and girlfriend, but Blake never stopped seeing him as her mentor.

She could forgive him for the stealing and robbing.

She could forgive him for hurting people that deserved it; herself included.

But this had obviously crossed the limit. The Schnee crew working on the train was completely innocent but the man didn't care for their lives. They were simply doing their jobs and it would be unfair to just ignore them and blow them up.

Adam had even abused her in the past. Well not physically, but whenever he doubted her love for him, he started snapping.

 _"_ _Do you still love her?"_

 _"_ _I'm your true love my darling. Stop thinking of that heiress. You belong to me, and only me alone."_

 _"_ _Do you love me, Blake?"_

 _"_ _Why won't you even kiss me, Blake?"_

The Faunus could never bring herself to do anything further than hugging with Adam - and she knew why.

A robotic click was heard behind them and they quickly turned around.

It was a spider droid – the most powerful guardian robot on the train.

With a few blasts they were knocked out of the cart.

After struggling for a while, Adam activated his semblance as he sliced the robot apart. When he finished his stance, he turned around and ran to the cart at the most front.

However, he came to a halt before jumping to that particular cart, because his beloved girlfriend was standing there and looking at him with complicated eyes.

His hand reached out as Blake slowly unsheathed Gambol Shroud.

"Goodbye."

With that, she slashed the joint connecting the carts and disappeared into shadows.

#

"Yah!" Yang landed a nice punch on the fortieth Beowolf charging towards her.

The cave was really deep and the inside was surrounded by Dust crystals of different properties. Weiss would be so happy to discover this place.

The blonde took the chance to steal (well not exactly, since no one owned this place) some fire Dusts as she used up a lot of her own in the previous battles.

It had been a smooth mission ever since she started; she had never lost a single strand of hair.

She remembered the description stating that there were at least two Alphas, but either she didn't encounter them yet, or they were dead under the hands of other huntsmen who arrived before her.

An hour or so later, she arrived at the most inner part of the cave and immediately a large crystal about twice the size of her came to view.

It was the most expensive Dust type and it shone in a beautiful shade of sky blue.

"I'm rich." Yang smirked.

However, a few terrifying growls were heard shortly after she touched that huge piece of Dust crystal.

"One, two, three, four… _you have got to be kidding me!_ " She yelped.

One Alpha Deathstalker, two Alpha Ursai and two Alpha Creeps.

She smiled as she put her knuckles together, flame bursting out her body.

 _I will gladly accept my demise._

"Yaaah!" She charged towards the hoard of overpowering Grimm.

#

She survived.

Despite being surrounded by five Alphas, she survived.

And that had costed a lot.

She lost a significant amount of blood and she was certain that she had serious inner bleeding and bruises that required _serious_ medical attention.

Nevertheless, she got an SS level job done.

Alone.

She was proud but also disappointed at the same time.

Her heart wished that she could just die a glory huntress and be remembered forever in the black market history. Death would make her forget about the pain and hurt of Weiss rejecting her – but she knew she still loved Weiss very much and she wanted to see her. Perhaps that was why she managed to survived all these difficult missions. She had a strong motivation.

She limped out of the cave; there wasn't a single Grimm along the her path. Now she just wished that her brain wouldn't forget about the details inside the caves so that she could compile them together with the pictures she took into a report in order to complete the job.

Yang taking difficult missions alone was not because she wanted to prove how strong she was.

It was more of a suicidal attempt.

She felt cowardly if she just slashed her wrist or jumped down from from the top of Mountain Glenn. If she wanted to die, she might as well die helping people. Or doing mission.

But no matter how impossibly difficult the mission was, she always survived; deep down the bottom of her heart she knew she didn't want to die.

She still couldn't let go of Weiss – the one and only girl she would ever love in the world.

Maybe doing all these suicidal missions was a way to punish herself for leaving behind the people that loved her the most.

She snorted at herself sarcastically.

 _I'm such a useless person._

#

After debating for half an hour whether she should return to her own apartment or Junior's club, she went for the latter.

The man quickly helped her when she kicked open the entrance door and collapsed to the ground.

"This idiot…" Junior sighed as a friend of his arrived along with the twins.

"Hello Junior." The man greeted.

"Doctor Pattillo." Junior greeted back.

"Berserker getting in trouble again?" Doctor Pattillo laughed.

"This idiot. I shouldn't have accepted that SS level mission." The man shook his head, "I knew she'd be going for it."

"Well she got you a lot of money didn't she?" The doctor opened his medical case and started to inject aura supplements into Yang's wrist.

"Money is the last thing I care about!" Junior half shouted, "She's seriously going to die if she continued down this...self destructive path."

"You care too much about her."

"I can't ignore her." Junior's eyes were full of mixed emotions, "I guess...I saw myself in her."

"You were a lot like her when you were young." The doctor chuckled.

"I suggested letting Miltia and Melanie to go with her but she always refused the idea. I think half the money she got from this mission will go to her medical care."

"Hey, I'm the only doctor around you that takes the cheapest payment okay!"

Junior laughed as she turned to the twins, "They'll be here if you need anything. I'll go deal with the club."

#

Yang struggled as she opened her eyes.

She felt tubes connecting to her body and she could heard the beeping of a machine she was too familiar with.

It was the one keeping Ruby alive.

"Ugh…" She groaned and immediately two figures dashed to her.

"Yang, are you okay?" Two voices talked in unison.

"Me…lanie…Mil…tia…"

"Hmph, it's good that you didn't die." Melanie crossed her arms while straightening her back, scowling at the blonde.

"Yang you idiot!" Miltiades scolded.

"Mo…ney…Ruby…"

"Yeah yeah we got it. Sleep, you dumb dragon." Melanie huffed and walked out of the room, followed by her sister.

Ever since she started taking missions, she would only take enough money to pay her bills and perhaps buy some drinks at Junior's club. The remaining amount was for Junior to donate to Qrow and Summer for Ruby's medical fee.

Of course, all of this was done anonymously so that they wouldn't figure out Yang's location.

She looked at the fancy ceiling of Junior's guest room as her thoughts drifted to her past.

 _Blake…I wonder how she's doing. Maybe I should pay Roman a visit too…and Topaz. I've never been to Topaz's grave ever since I left…I'm so sorry, buddy._

 _Maybe it is time…for me to go back?_

 _I left…without saying anything. They must really hate me._

 _I want to see Weiss though…but at the same time I'm so scared to see her. What if she…rejects me once again? I don't think my heart can take that uh. She's taken over SDC…which means she'll be in Atlas. Probably won't see her there. Alright!_

Yang nodded to herself as she made the decision to visit Secret Base for the first time ever since she left.

To the place she considered home.

She had no idea how to face Blake if they saw each other, but she thought they could figure it out if they indeed meet one another.

They had grown up and matured a lot; they had gone through high and low too, so Yang believed that they were capable of solving their issues.

#

It took the blonde a whole week to fully recover from the injuries. As usual, Junior took ten percent from the payment and handed around four thousand liens to Yang while the rest was sent to Atlas for Ruby.

She rode her motorcycle to travel to Secret Base while wearing a helmet that covered her head completely to make sure none of Weiss' man could spot her.

Dragon Tears Forest never changed at all. The scenery remained the same; the only difference being it was summer when she left and it was winter when she was back.

Everything was covered beneath a blanket of snow.

She reached Secret Base not long after. The first thing she did was to clean Topaz's grave and speak to him.

"Hey Topaz." She whispered while sitting in front of the grave, "I miss you."

As she poured out her feelings to her departed family, she sensed someone inside that dark cave.

The blonde quickly jerked up, activating Ember Celica and stared at whoever that was inside. Only she couldn't see in the dark.

Just when she was about to yell, faint sobbing came to her ears - and she recognized the voice.

"Blake?" The blonde walked slowly into the cave; her eyes were adjusting to the dark.

"Yang?" Came the Faunus's answer.

Yang quickly channeled her semblance when she saw her friend.

It was snowing, and the temperature was extremely low. And yet Blake didn't wear any protective clothing; on top of that, her clothes were torn and she had cuts and bruises all over her body. Parts of her clothes were stained red and judging from the smell of iron, it was blood.

"Blake, what happened?" She pulled the shivering kitten into a hug.

"I…" Blake sobbed intensely as she clung on to that human furnace.

Then she remembered how she thought of Yang when she left.

"No…" She pushed Yang away.

"No Blake, you're freezing! Come!" Yang tried to share her warmth with the Faunus but she kept pushing the blonde away.

"No Yang, don't…I don't deserve it…"

"C'mon, warm yourself first. Anything we'll talk after that." Yang grabbed Blake by force and after a while, the Faunus gave in.

She relaxed under Yang's warmth and when she wasn't shivering that much, she started talking.

"Yang, it's okay…it's enough."

"No kitten. You tell me what happened. You tell me everything. Who did this to you?" The blonde's eyes turned to crimson.

"No Yang…I don't deserve you…"

"Belladonna, talk." Yang scowled, "I'm not in the mood for excuse."

Blake flinched because of the intense heat she was emitting; after five years, the blonde had evidently grown into a woman, a tough and skilled fighter. Her muscles were even more toned than before and her aura was totally overwhelming.

She might be even stronger than Adam.

"After you left…" Blake began talking.

She told Yang how Weiss and she had enrolled in Signal. She mentioned about her new friends, Ren, Nora, Prryha and Jaune. She hesitated before telling Yang about her parents' death, but told her anyway. The blonde mumbled consolation as she hugged her friend.

"I…Yang, I like Weiss too." The Faunus confessed.

"I know."

Blake's eyes widened in shock as she continued.

"And…I was a total bitch Yang…"

"No Blake you weren't."

"I was! I…I am still a bitch now." Blake pushed herself away from Yang, "I was happy when I knew Weiss slapped you! I was overjoyed because I knew I had a chance that Weiss had rejected you! I shouldn't feel that way Yang! It's wrong! It's plain wrong and selfish and…but…I told myself, that maybe, if I can always stay by her side, then it doesn't matter if we can't be together, but I still have hope!"

After the sudden outburst, she panted for breath before she continued.

"She left! She went to Atlas leaving me here and…a guy approached me and I thought he could help me forget Weiss but he couldn't! I even left Signal to live with him…but I still can't let go of her…anything I do reminded me of her…she paid more attention to you even if you disappeared and ignored me who stayed all the time…I was so jealous Yang…"

"Weiss wasn't into me, she likes guys."

"I know…but I don't care. If she's happy then…even if it hurts me…it doesn't matter…I genuinely thought that Adam could change my heart and that I would fall in love with him…but I couldn't even kiss him!"

"Adam? Was he the one that did this to you? Did it involve-"

"No!" Blake shouted, "Yang, stop caring so much about me, I don't deserve it!"

"Hey, this is serious kitten. Let me help you."

"Don't, Yang…" Blake shook her head, "I took advantage of you when you went missing. I should not be pitied."

"This is not pity, Blake. This is helping a friend. Helping my best friend."

"I don't deserve to be your best friend. Yang, I joined the White Fang. I was a criminal."

"That doesn't matter. What mattered to me is-"

"Weiss."

Yang swallowed upon hearing her crush's name. She knew Blake was trying to trigger her, so she tried her best to remain calm.

"You matter too. You can't compare that."

"No I don't. I didn't even visit Ruby ever since she's moved to Atlas."

"Neither did I. I only knew she's been moved there after two years. Just tell me who that Adam guy is, I'll go beat up his ass."

"No Yang." Blake quickly moved and tried to run but Yang had grabbed her hand in time to stop her.

She certainly had grown up - if it was in the past, Yang could never have such amazing reflex.

"If you don't want my help, then why did you come to Secret Base? You miss me – miss us, and you trust us. So let me take care of that Adam whatever. Tell me who he is."

"I didn't come here because I miss you. I came here because this is my home and it will never stop being my home."

Yang didn't register what happened but a moment later Blake escaped from her solid grip and ran. She was holding an empty copy of Blake that disappeared upon the original one running.

 _What a convenient semblance._

Yang sighed.

#

She thought she had no one left when she dated Adam. She was glad that Adam could be there for her; he valued Blake very much and he cared for the Faunus. Whenever Blake felt insecure, he would always stay by her side.

Perhaps she didn't love him as a lover, but the bond between them was really strong.

So when her most treasured mentor turned out to be a beast, she didn't know what to do anymore.

She had absolutely no one now.

The last person that she had hope on had vanished like ashes.

Who could she go to now?

Her crush left her; her most respected mentor became a monster; her parents died; Yang was missing; Ruby was in a coma and she left the four friends that cared about her the most.

She was in deep despair as she clutched her hair, tears dropping from her amber orbs.

She felt a little bit of guilt leaving Adam. The man cared about her and she could tell that much, but he was too possessive – to a point where it turned abusive.

A week had passed since she left her mentor on the train.

And on this particular day when she had finally decided to _try and_ contact Nora and the gang, a man located her in an abandoned warehouse near Signal Academy.

"Hello my darling."

Blake turned to face the man she feared the most in the world.

"A-Adam?"

"Why did you leave me Blake?" Adam sounded so hurt, but his tone was calm and cold, "I love you so much; I tried to look for you everywhere for this whole week but I couldn't find you. Why did you hide from me Blake?"

The tone that he used to speak her name was so gentle.

And horrifying.

"Is it because of her? The heiress?" Adam withdrew his blood red katana.

"No…" Blake wanted to run, but she couldn't escape her mentor. Adam pinned her on the ground as he stabbed the katana into the ground just beside her head.

"You betrayed me…why? We were supposed to light the fire of revolution together...as lovers!"

"I…I didn't want this!" She cried, "I wanted peace! I wanted equality! I wanted love!"

"What you want, is impossible!" The man yelled, "And love? Don't I love you enough Blake?"

"You didn't care for other people's lives! I'm scared Adam! I'm scared that one day you would go crazy and-"

"Crazy?!" Adam held Blake's cheek lightly and smiled, "My love, you know how crazy I am for you."

"You weren't like this before Adam…why? Why did you change?"

"I should be the one asking you." Adam stroke her cheek gently, "Why must you hurt me Blake?"

"Yah!" Blake activated her semblance, leaving a clone behind as she struggled free from the bull Faunus' grip.

Adam transformed his sheath into a rifle and shot twice near Blake's legs. He knew aiming for her body would be a huge disadvantage for him as she could predict it and dodge. He knew all her weaknesses.

Five years of partnership weren't for nothing.

As expected, Blake lost her balance and fell. Adam slapped her hard and grabbed her shoulder so tightly it almost caused a dislocation.

"Why Blake? _Why?_ "

"…"

"You never loved me, have you?"

Tears rolled down from the Faunus' eyes.

"All this time, you still love her aren't you? Even if I'm just by your side, even if I love you so deeply…"

"I'm sorry…"

"You will have to suffer for your betrayal, my love."

#

Blake should've predicted that Adam would come for her.

She just didn't expect him to be this efficient. Her clothes were torn and she had wounds everywhere; she was tired but she didn't stop running to the place she thought was the safest.

As she curled herself into a ball, desperately seeking for warmth, she heard a voice coming from the outside of the cave.

It was the dragon that could rival the sun.

"Blake?"

"Yang?"

 **#**

 **I tried reversing the time a bit, just wanna try some new technique. Is it confusing? Need some feedback on this.**

 **Anyway, thank you for reading.**

 **As you can see, I kinda like Junior's character. I don't see him as a villain; he just simply want to protect his club. Duh.**

 **When I first started this story, I didn't think to link certain incidents that happened in canon in this. But as I continue writing, I feel like mixing the two universe sounds interesting. That's the reason I used the yellow and black trailer.**

 **If you like my story, you can support me on Pa-treon as 'The Tanker'.**

 **I do not own RWBY.**


	21. Chapter 21 - Truth

**Hi readers, thank you for sticking with me throughout this story.**

 **Just to clarify, this story was supposed to have only 20 chapters. But, as I was writing, more ideas popped to my mind, so it became way longer than it was supposed to be. The biggest reason that contributed to the lengthened chapters was Blake's choice to join the White Fang. It was NOT in my draft.**

 **I thought it would make the story more interesting. Also, the black trailer would require Blake to be in the White Fang so…why not?**

 **So, I'm sorry, it will be a while before the story links back to chapter 1 from the flashback.**

 **That being said, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **If you like my stories, you can support me on Pa-treon as 'The Tanker'. I have a FB page with the name "IBurn 'Tank' RWBY Fanfic Author'. I sometimes post doodles or stuffs there.**

 **I do not own RWBY.**

 **#**

 **Chapter 21: Truth**

The door to Junior's club was kicked open _again._

A very angry Yang stomped in as she approached the face-palming man at the counter. The people in the club at the moment were regular visitors, and they had pretty much gotten used to the blonde's epic entrance.

"Junior." She sat on her usual spot, hands held together to suppress her anger.

She was very calm when Blake left, but as she sped through the highway back to her own apartment, she got gradually angrier the more she thought about the guy that hit Blake.

What kind of man would hit a vulnerable girl like that? On top of that, he was her boyfriend! Well, ex boyfriend to be more accurate. If Blake didn't leave a violent man like that, she would punch the Faunus and knock some sense into her.

"Yes blondie?" The man sensed the seriousness in her tone.

"Do you by any chance know a man named Adam?"

"You do realize that there might be…oh I don't know, millions of people that were named Adam in Remnant?" Junior mixed some drinks skillfully, then pushed a cup of red and orange colored liquid to her.

"I don't have his full name." Yang took a deep breath to calm herself, "He did something terrible to my friend, and I want to go kick his ass."

"I will need more info if you want me to find him."

The blonde tried her best to recall what her best friend told her.

"My friend joined the White Fang…so perhaps that Adam guy's in there too."

Junior's eyes widened in shock.

"There's only one Adam in the White Fang."

"Perfect. Give me his address."

"Blondie." Junior frowned as he leaned forward to whisper to the blonde, "Adam Taurus is the leader of the White Fang."

"So?"

"So?" The man scowled, "Do you have any idea how powerful he is?"

"No."

"The White Fang under his lead became a group of terrorist instead of protesters. They fought and they were very, experienced in battle. Even if you're strong, you can't singlehandedly fight a man that could withstand the entire Schnee's private army. Not to mention Adam's deadly semblance."

"Schnee?" Yang jumped a bit hearing her crush's last name.

"Yes." The man's voice was harsh, "It's not those mindless monsters you fought out there, blondie. Adam is a _real_ monster. He can rival the largest company in the world full of skilled army alone, so do you really think a little girl like you can take him down?"

Yang remembered now – she saw it on the news before.

The White Fang had been attacking the Schnee Dust Company ever since a new leader was appointed, and that meant they would eventually harm Weiss.

"More of the reason I should go kick his ass. Or kill him even." Yang's eye turned crimson.

Not only did that man harmed her best friend; he attacked her crush's workers – and potentially would harm the heiress herself.

And Yang would never let anyone hurt the people she loved the most.

"And what makes you think I know his location?" Junior narrowed his eyes, "Not even the Huntsmen Union could find them. They've been hunting the White Fang for ages."

"You know everything!" The blonde half yelled.

"No matter what, I won't let you die." The man retrieved the empty cup and walked away.

"Junior!"

"You should listen to him this time, Yang." A girl in red approached the blonde, sitting at her left side.

"If you don't want to die." Another girl in white sat on the other side.

"I'm not afraid of death." Yang said in a determined tone.

The twins sighed simultaneously.

"Have you ever stopped and think about people who cared about you?" Miltiades shifted nearer to her.

"The people who cared about me are either going to get hurt, or is already hurt." Yang replied, "And I'm not just gonna sit here and do nothing."

"What do you think will happen to them if you die trying to avenge them?" Melanie scowled, "Seriously, you're such a dumb dragon."

"It doesn't matter." The blonde gulped before going on, "I…They hate me anyway."

"How the fuck do you know that they hate you? Have you ever tried talking to them? Have you even seen them?" Melanie stood up and slammed her hands on the table so hard it startled Yang.

"I've seen Blake." She replied, surprisingly calm, "Just now. At our…old place. She has wounds all over her body and it's that Adam whatever that did this to her."

"And does she hate you?" Miltiades motioned her head to tell her sister to sit down. Melanie scowled, but obeyed anyway.

Yang shook her head.

"She thinks I should hate her."

"And do you hate her?"

"No."

"See? That's what you guys lack." Miltiades huffed.

"It's called communication, you idiot." Melanie continued after her sister.

"But…if I just ignore it…there'll be a great chance he'll hurt Weiss!" Yang yelled, "I don't want Weiss to get hurt!"

"If you die, she'll be even more hurt." Miltiades said.

"But she hates me!"

"No she doesn't."

"She does!" The temperature rose as Yang clenched her fists tight, "She…slapped me when I tried to touch her and…she shouted 'no' and she ran…"

The memory started to play in her mind as she swallowed, trying her best not to cry.

Over the years, she really had grown up a lot, both physically and mentally. She dealt with things in a calmer and more thoughtful ways; she became tougher emotionally as well, but there was this one thing that _always_ affected her.

Weiss.

It was the day Weiss rejected her.

She would be fine if Weiss just rejected her feelings – but no, Weiss rejected _her._

The moment she hit Yang's hand when she tried to touch Weiss, the blonde understood the meaning fully.

"What did you do to her that caused her to reject you?" Miltiades said.

"I confessed to her."

"Only confessed?"

"…I kissed her."

"Yang, she's just shocked. She's straight, right?"

"Mmhmm."

"What will you do if…well, Junior suddenly kisses you?"

"Grab his nuts."

"Exactly."

"…"

"Whether she hates you or not, you won't know." Miltiades smiled gently, "Unless if you talk to her."

"Yeah, communication is a two way street Yang."

The three girls turned to the newcomer who suddenly spoke. He was standing behind them without them noticing and was smoking a cigar.

"!"

"Who are you?!" The two sisters turned to face the man.

"I didn't eavesdrop on purpose. I just happen to overhear you talking when I…well, came looking for Junior. And what a surprise, little dragon." The man smiled.

"…Hello Roman."

#

It turned out that Roman Torchwick wasn't as decent as he appeared to be.

He was involved in various underground businesses in order to keep his clinic alive – and that was why even if there weren't many customers at his shop, he could maintain it for years.

"Adults normally aren't as clean as they appear to be, little dragon." Roman said as Junior handed him a drink, "So, I've explained why I'm here. Care to tell me about you?"

Yang sighed as she ordered another Strawberry Sunrise from Junior.

"You still haven't told me what you're doing here. I kinda have been here every night ever since I left but I've never seen you."

"Well…my dealer informed me about this place. He said the owner knows everything. And I happen to need some intel on another dealer that still owed me money."

"Heh." Yang took a sip of the sweet liquid.

"So, you've been hiding here?"

The blonde sent the Malachite twins a look and both of them nodded. Although curious, they knew Yang needed some privacy with this stranger.

"They're your new girlfriends eh?" Roman raised his eyebrow.

"No." Yang's answer was simple and quick.

"Still love ice queen?"

"What?!" Yang turned to her stepdad and the latter just shrugged.

"Weiss came to me and told me everything."

"…I guess she hates me eh." The energy built within her lost complete as she turned back to face the counter.

"She didn't tell me about your crush on her. She just told me about what happened in Secret Base after…you know, Ruby…"

"…"

"You know, it's kind of easy to see that you like her."

"…"

"You're not as sneaky as you thought you were."

"What else did she tell you?"

"She never blamed you. She faults herself for everything. She said she hurt you and that you left because she had hurt you too much."

"That's not even remotely true!" Yang squeaked.

"Well, she did say you snapped at her. Then she snapped back and you left. I'm not really clear about what happened, but…" Roman furrowed his eyebrows, "Don't you think it's time you stop running and face her?"

A pause.

"Even if I want to…I can't. She's moved to Atlas and…"

"She moved to Atlas? Since when?" The man exclaimed.

"I saw Blake just now…when I went to Secret Base. She told me everything. It's on the news Roman, don't you ever read?"

"She could've managed SDC in Vale. I didn't expect her to get this far…"

"What?"

"Weiss came to me after Ruby's been…oh Yang, Ruby's moved to Atlas."

"I know."

Roman raised his eyebrow, but continued anyway.

"So…Weiss came to me, telling me that she suffocates because she had hurt both kitty and you. She went study in Signal together with kitty and kitty confessed to her. But she knew Weiss wasn't into girls so kitty told her that she'd just make peace by being around Weiss. Of course, Weiss doesn't think like that."

Yang gritted her teeth; she had no idea that her crush was feeling this painful. She nodded, silently encouraging Roman to go on.

"You see…she was really troubled. Weiss' a tough little girl, so when she asked for my help, I know things must be really heavy. She told me everything and I told her that it wasn't her fault."

"It's mine…"

"No, it wasn't anyone's fault. Love is not something that you can control, my dear stepdaughter."

"But…"

"Sssh. After all these years you still don't understand?"

"I think I eventually will. But for now…no I don't."

"You'll get it in the future." Roman smiled, "Well where was I? Oh yeah, I gave her some advice. I told her that it wasn't her fault and both kitty and you will have to learn to walk out of it. I'm not saying it's your fault; it's just that it's very common for one-sided crush. So I told her that to sort things out with kitty, she could put some distance and draw a line between love and friendship. But I never expect her to leave."

"I see…" Yang mumbled.

She finally had a clear view of everything. The Malachite twins were right, what they lack of was communication; they assumed what each other think of themselves without actually knowing it.

And this had caused such huge misunderstanding that went on for years. Dust, how much had Weiss been suffering? It must be way heavier than what she felt in the past five years and it could be solved by simply talking to each other.

Why was she so stubborn?

"Don't blame yourself, little dragon. We do and say stupid things sometimes." Roman smiled.

"If only I can realize it earlier…"

"Ssh, the past is in the past. Let it go and start new, Yang."

"Blake's suffering too…Dust, we really could just…you know, talk to each other. Like how we always did when we were kids. It all just…went complicated ever since I started having romantic feelings for Weiss…"

"Well, it's not too late now. Yang, if you really value your friendship…you have to take action. Things have been dragged on for too long. You all grown up now and it's time to fix it before it broke entirely."

"Yeah. Thanks…dad."

Roman flinched a bit before blushing. He quickly looked to the other side to hide his face.

"N…no problem."

"By the way…I…might need your help with something."

"Oh?"

"I must do this…before I can see Weiss." Yang's tone was determined.

"And what is it?"

"If we were to see each other…we'll have to do it together – Blake, Weiss and me, in Ruby's hospital room if possible. I want our reunion to be…together."

"Speaking of which, where is the kitty? You said she saw her just now?"

"That's the issue I need help about."

"Oh?"

Yang told Roman about everything – how she found Blake in a bad condition; how this guy named Adam abused her; how the White Fang was targeting the Schnee Dust Company.

"So…you need my help to find Adam Taurus?"

"Yeah. Junior told me about how strong they were…so…if I want to fight him, I'll be needing help. Please help me, dad."

Roman remained silent for a while.

"I…I can't take him alone so…I figure I can ask for Qrow and Summer's help…although I'm in no position to do that…"

"I'll help you."

"…That was a quick decision."

"Yang, I think it's time to tell you the truth."

#

He was humming happy tunes that night with a cute little baby in his hands.

"This is the way we wanna spend every day~" He sang lightly as the baby chuckled.

The door to the room opened then, revealing a man with orange hair.

"Hey Roman!" The man greeted while turning to the newcomer; he let the baby faced him too as he continued his sentence, "Say hi to Uncle Roman, Yang~"

Roman smiled as he flipped on the light switch, "How many times have I told you to not move in the dark? If you fell and hurt Yang-"

"Sssshhh chill bro!" Taiyang Xiao Long grinned, "The moonlight allows me to see well in the dark! That's why I requested a door-sized window!"

Roman shook his head and sighed.

"Raven's gone on hunting missions again?"

"Well she likes being on the field." Taiyang shrugged, "Besides, I don't really mind to stay home and take care of my precious little baby~ right Yang?"

He touched Yang's forehead with his and the baby giggled.

"Look at this yellow dork." Roman smiled, "Anyway, up for a night walk?"

"Oh of course! My little dragon _loves_ to go outside~ oh aren'tcha?"

Both men went out for a walk near the park nearby; Taiyang, despite his name that meant 'Sun', actually liked the moon very much.

He chose to teach at Signal Academy solely because it was the best place in Remnant to admire the shattered moon. And Yang liked it too. He initially wanted to name Yang 'Yue Xiao Long', which meant 'Moon' but Raven disagreed with that.

So after a long discussion, they had decided to name her 'Yang' instead. She had beautiful blonde hair that burned like the sun and Taiyang felt really thankful he didn't go with his initial decision.

Roman was his best friend and they often hung out together at bars or clubs before Yang was born. Now with Taiyang becoming a father, Roman had stopped visiting those noisy places and chose to accompany his friend instead.

True friendship was how Taiyang described it.

"So there was this cute dog today…"

They were chatting about Roman's job and didn't realize they had reached the end of the path. A forest blocked their way and they turned around, getting ready to go back to the Xiao Long house.

Then they heard a growl.

Roman grabbed his cane as they turned to face the source of the sound at the same time.

A boy, about seventeen or something judging from his appearance was standing among the trees in the forest. He was panting heavily; his right hand was holding a blood red katana and he had a pair of bull horns on top of his flaming red hair.

"Boy, are you okay?" Taiyang shouted when Roman stood in front of him, spreading his hand to protect them.

"Humans…" The boy growled, "Filthy humans…"

"Tai, run."

"I'm not leaving you he-"

The boy charged towards them in an instant as Roman blocked his sword precisely with his cane, resulting a huge shockwave to be created that blew Taiyang away. He fell down but was still grabbing his daughter tightly. Yang began to cry and evidently the sound irritated the boy.

"Shut up! Shut up shut up!" The boy yelled as he repeatedly slashed at Roman; the latter blocking every hit but was soon overpowered as he was thrown to a certain direction.

"Hey, what do you want?!" Taiyang yelled as Roman got up quickly.

"I want you all to _die!_ "

The boy then leaped at Taiyang, stubbornly targeting Yang who was in his hands, "Die humans! Stop reproducing more killers!"

"Hey!" Roman popped open the edge of his cane and fired a few shots at the boy.

"You're all liars…humans are all liars!" He shouted as tears started to spill from his eyes. He lost his balance when one of Roman's shot hit his legs and fell.

The boy rolled towards a tree because of the inertia and both men took the chance to call for help through their scrolls.

He was extremely powerful and it would take two of them to take him down without killing him. But with Yang in Taiyang's arms, it would be difficult for both of them to fight at the same time. Plus, it was pretty late at night so there was no one around to assist them.

However, their scrolls were fired off by the boy's rifle which transformed from his sheath.

"You're all liars…you killed my parents…although we were so nice to you…although we've did nothing wrong…" The boy wept as he knelt down, "Adam is a nice boy…please don't kill Adam…but Adam want to kill you all…because you killed Adam's parents…"

"Adam? Is that your name?" Roman tried to negotiate as he motioned his head to Taiyang, pleading him to run.

Taiyang shook his head however; he didn't want to leave his best friend alone.

"Hey, Roman, if we have no choice, just kill him. Or we will be killed." Taiyang whispered.

Roman was perfectly capable if he was to fight without any restriction. He nodded at his best friend.

"Yes…kill you or I will be killed." The bull Faunus snickered, "Die, human!"

He dashed towards Roman and slashed him with demonic strength.

Roman countered him but this boy…Adam was too powerful. He had no idea how this young boy could have enough power to rival a trained fighter like him.

The incessant slashes however stopped after a while as Adam held his blade near his waist, as if he was charging something.

Both men instantly used all of their auras to shield their body as Roman stepped in front of Taiyang.

With a beautiful slash all the trees around were cut in half and Roman was pushed flying backwards immediately as he hit Taiyang, both falling onto the ground.

Had it not been them focusing their aura, they would've been cut in half.

Dust, this Faunus was really powerful.

And at this very moment, Taiyang had made an important decision.

He handed Yang to Roman and stood up, activating both yellow gauntlets on his wrists.

"No, Tai-"

"This is the best option. You can't fight anymore, Roman. Your inside was probably messed up. Just…take care of Yang and Raven if I can't make it, okay?"

Taiyang didn't wait for the man to reply. He charged at the crazy boy, landing furious punches on him. He figured out Adam's semblance, so he did his best to avoid hitting the blade; instead, he kept on focusing on spots that Adam would not have expected so that he wouldn't have time to parry the attacks.

That worked initially as Taiyang's eyes became crimson.

He felt energy building up his body; his semblance was starting to work.

The Huntsmen Union didn't want Taiyang's semblance to go to waste, so they did their best to persuade the man to take missions that required a lot of fighting. But sadly, he had rejected and stated that he loved to teach in Signal.

There wasn't a specific name for his semblance. With every hit he landed on an enemy – or anyone in particular, he built energy within his body. Roman named it 'Every-hit-on-enemy-makes-me-stronger'.

"Ha!" He punched Adam hard in his head as he fell onto the ground.

"Ugh…" The boy groaned as he struggled to get up.

"Give up, boy, or I'll have to kill you!"

"No, I will be the one killing you!" Adam charged again but this time Taiyang didn't allow him to have time to prepare. He landed a straight punch on the boy's face but the boy dodged.

!

When the second punch hit straight into Adam's eyes, the boy's blade also slashed straight through Taiyang's stomach.

" _Argh!_ " Adam groaned as his vision went black completely; Taiyang didn't have any mercy on that punch – and it destroyed Adam's eyeballs completely, "My eyes! You son of a bitch! Argh!"

Adam's shriek had echoed through the whole place.

"Tai!" Roman shouted as he ran to his best friend who collapsed onto the ground.

Blood started coming out from that deep wound on his stomach.

"Tai, please, hang on!" Roman shared his aura to let the wound heal, but it was too deep.

Apparently, Adam's hysterical shriek had alerted someone who just happened to pass by after Tai was slashed. They called for help and before they all realized it, Adam was gone.

#

Taiyang didn't make it.

He died on the way to the hospital.

Raven arrived an hour later after rushing all the way from Mistral.

It was the worst day of their lives.

#

"No…this is the worst day…not when Tai died…" Roman sobbed as he saw that letter on his working table.

 _Roman:_

 _Please take care of Yang. I'm sorry. I have serious business to attend to. Don't attempt looking for me._

 _Raven._

 **#**

 **So yeah…Adam really hates human.**

 **And Tai destroying his eyeballs was rather gore. Imagine a fist on your face and the next moment your eyeballs explode. Ugh. I'm sorry for that.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy this flashback and the friendship between Roman, Yang, Malachites and Junior.**

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **I do not own RWBY.**


	22. Chapter 22 - A Precious Gem

**Let me tell you one thing.**

 **It's getting nearer to chapter 1.**

 **Pa-treon: The Tanker, FB page: IBurn 'Tank' RWBY Fanfic Author.**

 **I do not own RWBY.**

 **#**

 **Chapter 22: A Precious Gem**

"Hello? Qrow?"

"Yes Roman?"

"I need your help with something."

"What is it?"

"I need you and the Huntsmen Union's help."

"With what?"

"I…I've found my stepdaughter, and we think we can locate the White Fang."

#

Another two years passed.

Weiss Schnee was pulling the soft curtain apart, letting the dim moonlight shone through the window.

"Congratulation on turning eighteen today, Ruby." The heiress smiled as she sat beside her best friend.

Blake and Yang never visited Ruby; even if they did, they picked different times and were clearly avoiding Weiss. She made sure to visit Ruby whenever she was free to keep the girl accompanied.

"You know, you look better with long hair." Weiss smiled as she held Ruby's hand.

Ever since the winter two years ago, Qrow and Summer had been really busy with something. They didn't tell Weiss much about it, but it had something to do with the Huntsmen Union and it involved a huge operation.

They told Weiss to be with Ruby on their behalf if they couldn't make it on her eighteenth birthday.

Whatever that operation was, it sure was important.

Schnee Dust Company had wonderful performance over the past few years so Weiss had taken the chance to withdraw herself for a week or so from work.

Plus, it was Ruby's birthday.

"I don't know what to get for you as your present." The heiress took a polished Crescent Rose and expanded it to its scythe form, then leaned it against the bed, "I got your baby nice and clean. And I wrote a song for you so…happy birthday, Ruby."

Weiss cleared her throat a little before singing the song that she had been composing for over a month.

 _Summer has come and passed_

 _The innocent can never last_

 _Wake me up, when September ends._

 _Like my father's come to pass_

 _Seven years has gone so fast_

 _Wake me up, when September ends._

Weiss couldn't continue anymore as tears starting to drip.

"Please wake up…wake up Ruby…"

She grabbed Ruby's hand tightly as she sobbed.

Oh, how she wished the black and the yellow were here too – but if they were here, could Weiss face them?

She remembered how she slapped Yang when the latter attempted to touch her; that hurt on her face was so…heartbreaking.

She also remembered how she chose to ran, abandoning Blake alone in Signal. She knew the girl could handle it; she had Team JNPR by her side.

But that was a stupid excuse to justify her shameless action.

Ever since she came to Atlas, she had been burying herself in work. She even abandoned her studies; she just learned under her father as the CEO of the company and kept on accepting more work to keep herself busy.

She couldn't face her friends – she couldn't face the two that loved her unconditionally.

She could've searched for them.

But she didn't.

She was a coward.

"I can still remember…when we're still together as Team RWBY." Weiss smiled faintly, "I miss the time."

Adventures, hide and seek, summer festival and firework – she couldn't possibly forget those happiest moments in her life.

"Please wake up, Ruby…only you can fix us…only you can bring back Team RWBY…you brought us together, and when you're gone, we were separated…only you can once again reunite us…"

Weiss rose and planted a kiss on Ruby's cheek.

"You're the most precious gem ever, you know that?"

#

Weiss never fell in love with anyone ever since she inherited the company.

She didn't know if it was because of Blake and Yang.

There was a period where the heir of the Vasilias family showed love interest in her and strangely, although she kind of liked him before, she didn't feel anything for him when he confessed to her.

When Neptune Vasilias told her that he wished to go out with her, she didn't accept it; because when she heard the words 'I like you', Blake and Yang came to her mind instead of the man in front of her.

And she always questioned herself if she loved the both of them.

Even if she really did…was it Blake or Yang?

She couldn't tell.

She was confused.

After seven sleepless nights, she still didn't come up with a conclusion.

Yang was warm and gentle, but Blake was sassy and seducing.

 _Do I like them in a romantic way in the first place?_

 _No…after so long, they must've forgotten about me._

 _Even if they don't…even if I love them…do I really have the right to even call them friends after what I've done?_

 _Will they ever forgive me?_

So, after the seventh night, Weiss decided to once again use her work as an excuse.

"We will be expanding into the fashion market this week. We're gonna get real busy soon, so I want the related documents on my table by Wednesday. Dismiss."

#

"Blake."

The Faunus flinched as she quickly turned around, only to saw a pair of mesmerizing lilac orbs.

"Yang?"

"Finally found you."

"No, leave me alo-"

"No. Blake, you listen. You listen good." Yang grabbed her friend's shoulder tightly, but loose enough to not hurt her, "The things you told me in Secret Base two years ago…they don't matter anymore, okay? You left the White Fang, so you're not a criminal. You took my advantage when I left, but that wasn't your fault. Let's leave the past in the past and keep moving forward, Blake."

"Yang-"

"I haven't finished yet."

The preparation for the biggest operation in the history of Remnant took as long as two years to be done. After Roman contacted Qrow, the Huntsmen Union stepped in and hatched an ultimate plan together.

They assigned different role to everyone involved in the operation to take down the White Fang.

Qrow was appointed as the director of this operation and everything went pretty well under his control; at the same time, the headmaster of Beacon Academy, Professor Ozpin had offered to help with pushing Faunus rights through legal ways. This was to prevent the White Fang from recruiting more members, so that things would be easier.

Yang and Roman were also in the operation and they played important roles; both of them and Summer Rose were assigned as scouts to collect intel on the White Fang's latest activities while five other huntsmen were spying on their base camp.

The other huntsmen involved were to keep an eye on any abnormality among the four kingdoms, and another team acted as the backup for emergency, camping in the huge abandoned warehouse they used as a base.

They kept on observing the White Fang, trying to figure out a right time as well as strategy to wipe them out at once. If they just attacked their base, they wouldn't know if there was any other activity being carried on, so they had to catch the leader to crush the whole organization. And since Adam Taurus was always on the move, they had to lure him out, or ambush him during his assault on the SDC.

This operation wasn't allowed to fail.

Qrow and Summer had to sacrifice their valuable time with their precious daughter for the sake of Remnant; even other huntsmen who had families had to dedicate their time towards this operation.

And no one ever complained about it.

They knew that ultimately, it was to save the people they love.

With the White Fang's violence and reckless behaviors, it was just a matter of time before an actual war happened.

"It took us two years to finally get everything ready. We'll fight together, Blake. We'll crush the White Fang." Yang smiled, "It's to protect us. To protect…Weiss."

Blake's eyes widened.

"You know if Adam Taurus wasn't being put into jail or killed, he would eventually harm Weiss, right?"

The Faunus looked away from her friend, nodding slightly.

"I told you I would beat Adam's ass two years ago. But I couldn't." Yang continued, "I was too weak. But now I have friends helping me. Roman, Qrow, Summer and the Huntsmen Union were in this together."

One of the reasons the operation took so long to be ready was because they lacked intel.

It was difficult to figure out stuff going on with the White Fang, and they didn't want any sacrifice to be made so they didn't put a spy into the organization. What they needed was a former member – in other word, Blake.

Yang told Qrow about Blake joining the White Fang, and the man ensured her that since Blake had left on her own will, that meant she wasn't part of them anymore, so she didn't have to be punished by the law.

However, Blake was really hard to be located, especially when she didn't want to be found.

Without her help, they could only rely on wires and bugs and endless observations.

"Join us, Blake. You know how the White Fang works."

The Faunus hesitated.

"We've got solid intel." Yang released her grip and pulled out her scroll, fingers skillfully swiping through the screen.

Shortly after, Weiss' photo popped out.

"SDC decided to invade the fashion market." Yang said, "They've officially bought some brands and there will be a fashion show held in Vacuo."

"Vacuo?"

"I know, it's strange, considering it's basically a desert there." Yang shrugged, "I heard SDC wanted to take this chance to build shelters for the people outside the city there and supply them with foods and stuffs."

Blake nodded, encouraging Yang to continue.

"Since they announced this over the media, White Fang also knew about it. From what we got, they plan to assassinate Weiss when she was on her way there."

The Faunus frowned.

There was only one way to get to Vacuo – train.

Airships weren't allowed there by the government as they would blow up the sand and cause a mess. Cars were allowed inside the city, but there wasn't any road being built connecting it to Atlas. So, the only option left was the train. There were a few rails that connected Vacuo to the other kingdoms so Weiss had no choice but to rely on it.

Unless if she planned to walk on her feet.

"Train assassination." Blake mumbled, "Classic White Fang. It must be Adam's idea."

Blake didn't state the reason, but she knew why.

She left Adam on an SDC train and clearly the man thought it was because she still loved Weiss. This assassination plan had a double meaning behind it.

"Blake…I was lost. We all were." Yang's eyes shone with determination, "Because we…didn't communicate well. We need to find a time and…talk properly. All of us. Weiss, you, me and…Rubes."

Amber stared into lilacs for a moment – and Blake nodded.

"I've always been on the run…it's time…it's time I face it."

"Yes. You've got me. You've got us supporting you this time. You don't have to be afraid of Adam anymore, Blake. We'll take him out together, then we'll sit down and have a nice talk."

"Right." Blake nodded, "Thank you, Yang."

The blonde smiled and spread her arms.

"A hug, kitten?"

Blake hesitated, but took the offer and hugged her friend.

"It was good to see you."

"Me too."

#

Although Blake was intentionally avoiding her old friends, she did keep in touch with Ren and Nora. At first she thought they hated her, but Nora was so happy to see her she leaped straight into her arms and cried for nearly an hour.

When Blake told the two that she was going to join in the operation to take out the White Fang, the two had offered to help her.

They were huntsmen too and they were the honor graduates of Beacon Academy. Professor Ozpin was totally cool with them to be involved in this dangerous operation too.

"Alright, we've organized everything. I've sent them to your scrolls and I want you all to _stick_ to the protocols no matter what." Qrow said, eyeing every member in the base, "And only use our inner network. If White Fang's got ally, it's likely that they are capable of hacking."

"Aye Qrow." All the members said in unison.

"Good. Now we just have to talk to Weiss Schnee to arrange everything. I only want the core members to stay, others please return to your positions."

Soon, only Summer, Roman, Yang, Blake, Nora and Ren were left.

"Okay, so…" The man looked at Yang.

"No Qrow. I…I'm not quite ready yet…" The blonde squirmed.

"She's right…if…Weiss saw us…the three of us might be affected and not be able to…fully concentrate in a fight." Blake stood up for her friend.

"She's not wrong." Roman shrugged, "Want me to do the talking?"

Qrow scratched his head, then paused for a moment before nodding.

"Take Nora and Ren with you."

"Okay."

"Just…don't mention about Blake and Yang…okay?"

"We understand." Nora said.

#

The talk with Weiss went pretty well.

Presently they were on the train to Vacuo; however they weren't on the real train.

"Remember guys, our priority is to get Adam Taurus, dead or alive." Qrow gave them the last reminder before the real train started to move, "We can force the lieutenant or his men to talk about the White Fang's activities, but Adam is an SSS level criminal. Do not hesitate to slash his throat if he fights back."

All the huntsmen nodded.

This operation basically was set like this:

The SDC would announce their departing time as thirteen hundred in the afternoon, and a train carrying the backup team of this operation with Summer and Roman leading would be moved to fool the White Fang into attacking it.

If they thought Weiss was in that train and started their assassination, they would be falling right into the trap.

The real train that Weiss would be boarding was the train that would depart at fourteen hundred. Qrow thought Adam would be smart enough to figure it out, so he left the more powerful huntsmen on the real train to protect Weiss.

Blake and Yang were assigned to dress as Atlas soldiers to patrol on the roof (so that Weiss wouldn't recognize them and also to fool the White Fang) along with other huntsmen; Qrow, Ren and Nora would stay with Weiss just in case.

If Adam Taurus appeared, Ren and Nora would have to bring Weiss into a secret room hidden near where the clothes for the fashion show were stored, and Qrow would assist in taking the bull Faunus down.

It was presently an hour after the real train departed.

Qrow got a call from Summer saying that the first train was attacked and it took them very long to capture all of the assailants. She called him right after the last man was captured.

After a while, he hung up the scroll and sighed.

"Adam Taurus didn't show up in the first train."

"You mean…?" Weiss frowned.

"Yes Ice Queen. It means you're in danger."

Now Weiss wasn't a bad fighter – she was excellent and her skill could easily rival Ren's – or even Nora's.

But if she died, then it would be really hard to locate the White Fang again, so they did their best to keep the heiress alive.

Qrow then told all of the huntsmen in this train to be prepared for the most fearsome Faunus in the White Fang.

#

"How-"

"I know, my dear. I can recognize you no matter how hard you try to disguise yourself." Adam smiled gently at his ex girlfriend.

Right after Qrow had spread out the word, the train was attacked by the most skilled fighters from the White Fang – the leader included.

The other huntsmen were busy battling Adam's subordinates while Blake and Yang were facing the man on their own before Qrow arrived.

"Hey."

Yang's body was bursting with flame as she glared at the man who had hurt her best friend, and planned to hurt her crush.

Adam tilted his head.

"Who are you?"

"You abused my friend." The blonde took off the helmet, "And you'll pay for it."

"Think you can take me, blondie?"

Yang charged at him without giving him time to react; however the man was faster as he parried Yang's punch perfectly.

Blake followed her friend after recovering from the shock. She made use of her clones as she slashed repeatedly at the man.

Adam's right hand was blocking Yang's attacks with Blush and his left was blocking Blake's with Wilt.

They had studied about Adam's semblance beforehand.

They knew if the man wasn't able to absorb energy, he couldn't send it back either, so they refrained from using range attack. Adam also needed time to charge if he wanted to use his semblance, so the bumblebees kept on attacking him, keeping his hands busy.

Qrow then arrived and it became a three versus one fight.

#

"Finally…I get to kill a Schnee…" The White Fang Lieutenant kicked an injured Nora to a side as he dragged his chainsaw towards the heiress.

Weiss withdrew her rapier, getting prepared to fight the man.

Ren was injured too and he was lying beside Nora, both couldn't move at all.

The man charged towards Weiss as she tumbled away, then used a glyph to push herself like a bullet to stab the man.

Myrtenaster clashed with chainsaw and after a few sparks were ignited, they separated, both flying backwards. The lieutenant didn't give Weiss time to react after she was knocked back; he attacked the heiress with the activated chainsaw.

Weiss did a beautiful back flip to evade the attack, but was soon sent flying to the roof by a powerful punch.

#

"Ah!"

They recognized this voice.

A white object landed not far from them as a hole was blasted on the train cart.

"Weiss!" Blake and Yang shouted.

Qrow quickly dashed to fight the lieutenant as the heiress was unable to defend herself; she fainted.

They saw blood coming out from her face, but couldn't get to her because Adam was keeping them busy.

Blake's aura was completely depleted and she tried her best to use only ordinary attacks to distract the man.

"So that's the woman you love." Adam said; he was injured by Qrow but he could still fight two people at once and that had shown how powerful he was.

"No!" Blake shouted as the man dashed towards the unconscious heiress after pushing both girls out of the way.

Qrow was still dealing with the stubborn lieutenant and he didn't notice the incoming bull Faunus.

The train took a turn at that exact moment, heading up a mountainside, just like the place where Blake left Adam.

Except the fact that it wasn't red like Forever Fall; it was plain brown, covered by sand.

And that turn slowed Adam for a second as Yang fired Ember Celica, utilizing the recoil to launch herself towards the man, trying to stop him from hurting Weiss.

" _Get away from her!_ "

"Shut up!" Adam halted, turned around and withdrew his sword.

" _No!_ " Blake shouted as she tried to save Yang-

-But it was too late.

Adam's sword released a huge amount of energy, hitting Yang hard and sending the girl flying backwards.

"Yang!"

The man then turned towards the heiress, getting ready to stab her.

Qrow tried to stop him, but was interrupted by chainsaw.

And at this very moment, Blake made a decision.

Unable to use her semblance anymore she launched herself towards Adam, hugging the man tight. He didn't expect this and was startled – and Blake took this chance to kick the train hard.

"Blake!" Qrow shouted as both Faunus fell from the train.

#

"There's still no news of her yet?"

Qrow shook his head.

"Damn…" Yang cursed.

"Take a rest, firecracker." The man smiled, "White Fang's completely been wiped out now. Oz made a new peaceful organization named the Grey Fang to enforce Faunus right. Everything's good now."

"But Blake is still missing."

They never found both Adam and Blake at the leg of the mountain ever since they fell. The lieutenant was captured and he spilled everything about the White Fang; all their bases and activities – even the list of all the members.

Within a month, the terrorists of the organization were all captured.

Remnant had once again experienced a time of peace.

And most importantly, Schnee Dust Company was finally free from attacks.

Weiss was only injured lightly, thankfully, unlike Yang who got her right arm and leg cut off by Adam.

The Huntsmen Union had Yang gone through a surgery to attach robotic limbs as a token of appreciation. She contributed a lot and she deserved this; all the huntsmen that were in the operation had agreed on donating to the blonde.

However, Yang wasn't happy at all.

She was still recovering from the massive injury she sustained; she needed to be hospitalized for at least a year.

The only body parts she could move were her head and robotic limbs. Any places other than those were basically covered in bandage.

And the worst thing was, Blake was missing.

They didn't find any of her remains, which was a good thing, but they didn't know where she went either.

It wasn't even sure if she was still alive.

Yang purposely requested to be hospitalized far from where Ruby was at – she didn't want Weiss to see her in this state. Of course, the heiress was told that there were injured huntsmen, but they never let her know about Blake and Yang.

#

Another year passed when Yang was fully recovered – she however needed to go through a series of rehab before the doctor could release her.

There was still no news of Blake.

#

It was summer when Yang was finally being discharged from the hospital – she spent half a year trying to get her limbs to move before being released.

She was officially twenty two now.

And Blake was still missing.

She didn't know if she should fulfill what she had promised the Faunus – to see Weiss together as a team or to see Weiss on her own first.

If she was to find Blake before finally meeting Weiss, then she would need a very long time. Plus, Blake could possibly be dead.

"Argh, what am I thinking." She shook her head, "Blake must be alive. She's just…hurt and can't contact us. She must be."

And Weiss must be hurting too.

The blonde knew Weiss was in pain and she knew despite not making an effort to find them, the heiress wanted to see them. She was just scared – like how Yang was.

It was time they cleared things up.

But without Blake…would it be unfair?

After a long night of debate, Yang had decided to head to Secret Base to cool herself down and think this through. It was her real home anyway.

So she hopped on Bumblebee, drove all the way there from Atlas and sat on the huge rock beside the lake.

A voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she flinched.

"Yang?"

She quickly jumped down from the rock as she posed a battle stance, glaring at the intruder.

"Weiss?"

Her crimson eyes faded back to lilac as she transformed her gauntlets back to its bracelet form.

"You've…grown up."

"It's been nine years Weiss."

"Why…are you here?"

Why? It was because she didn't know if she should see Weiss. It was because if she did see Weiss, she wouldn't know how to break the news to her – how to tell her that Blake was missing and she didn't even know if the Faunus was alive or not.

"I didn't expect you to come here at this time." She half lied with a flat tone.

"Me neither." Weiss' expression softened.

"It's been a while, princess." She smiled; her eyes however didn't because of Blake, "It's nice to see you again."

 **#**

 **Finally eh. After 22 chapters of waiting, we're finally back to chapter 1.**

 **The title of this chapter not only reflects to Ruby, but also Blake. I think there's a type of gems that is a shiny black color? Think it's named obsidian or something like that.**

 **Also, the song that Weiss was singing was 'Wake me up when September ends' by Greenday. I found this song and the lyrics 'seven years' suit this so I used this song. Ruby's been in coma for seven years coincidentally.**

 **I didn't tell about Yang's feelings after learning the truth about Taiyang. I'll just leave that to your imagination. Roman, Melanie, Miltiades and Junior were there with her so I figured she would be comforted by them.**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading. Let me know what your opinion is in the review section or you can direct PM me.**

 **I do not own RWBY.**


	23. Chapter 23 - Destiny and Challenge

**We can officially begin our love triangle now.**

 **Huehue.**

 **Pa-treon: The Tanker, FB Page: IBurn 'Tank' RWBY Fanfic Author**

 **I do not own RWBY.**

 **#**

 **Chapter 23: Destiny and Challenge**

"It's good to see you too." Weiss swallowed, trying really, really hard to not break down. The woman in front of her was so different from the Yang Xiao Long nine years ago; but at the same time they were so alike that Weiss could tell the identity without even needing to look.

"You've grown up too." Yang smiled.

Weiss' hair was still tied in a sideway ponytail; she also grew a lot taller, but still a few inches shorter than Yang.

And there was a faint scar on her left eye.

"The scar…it's from the White Fang operation…isn't it?" Yang whispered, refraining herself from touching the heiress.

"How did you…"

The media reported about the attack on the train to Vacuo, but they did not mention anything about Weiss getting hurt – so unless if the blonde was there, she couldn't have possibly known about it.

"I was there."

Yang shifted her position a bit, letting the heiress see her robotic limbs. They shone in white and gold; Ember Celica was forged together with her right arm and both limbs were perfectly capable of generating aura as they were a part of Yang now.

Weiss gasped and covered her mouth with both hands. She could say nothing – she didn't even remember seeing Yang on the train that day.

"Hey. It's fine." The blonde smiled.

"You…get hurt because of me again…" Weiss sniffed.

"Weiss." Yang held out her right hand and Weiss took it out of reflex. Even though it's summer at the moment, it was metal cold.

"Yang, I-"

Suddenly they heard subtle movements behind the bushes as a figure appeared from shadows.

"Blake?" Both exclaimed, Yang having a louder voice.

"Where have you been?! Why didn't you contact us, Blake? I thought you were-" The blonde dashed to her, but paused before grabbing her shoulders.

Blake had two lines of tears on her face but she was smiling; she looked at Yang who was in front of her, then turned to Weiss who stood a little further from them.

"It's good to see you two…" She mumbled, "I came here…hoping to bump into you…and I really did…"

Yang relaxed upon hearing that, but Weiss couldn't stop shaking.

Nine years…it had been nine years ever since they saw each other.

"Welcome back to our home, kitten." Yang smiled faintly.

"Do you still remember what you told me, Yang?"

Yang nodded and the both of them turned to their crush.

"Weiss…I want us to be a team again." The blonde whispered but was audible to the both of them, "I want us to be together just like the old days."

"A lot has changed but…I think we're all mature enough to face it…and accept it." Blake continued, "Let's sit down and have a talk, Weiss. Us, together, with Ruby…We should be honest with each other and spill out all our feelings."

"Destiny brought us here together." Yang turned to the heiress and held out her right arm, "Secret Base reunited us. Come, Weiss. Let's sit down and talk. We have been stubborn for nine years…let's go back to what we once were."

Blake mimicked Yang's actions as she smiled; she already made up her mind ever since she fell from the train – to bring back the memories, to stop running and to go for what she really wanted.

She wanted Team RWBY.

She wanted her friends to be back together just like the old days – the happiest moments in her life.

She would tell them everything that she had gone through, how she felt and the reasons of all her past actions.

She would apologize to them and hug them and smile together with them.

"Let's go Weiss. Let's go see Ruby." Blake encouraged.

Weiss couldn't quite catch on to them, but she obliged.

She had a lot of questions and feelings to tell her friends.

#

The door to Ruby's room opened.

As Weiss, Blake and Yang walked in the room, the sky began to lighten up, providing the room with a mixture of red, orange, yellow, pink and purple.

"Hello Rubes." Yang greeted.

"Hi, Ruby. It's been a while." Blake smiled.

"Ruby, Blake and Yang are here to see you."

The heiress then motioned her head, telling the bumblebees to get a chair respectively from the corner near the entrance. And so they did as they sat down in a straight line beside Ruby's bed.

"Okay, talk." Weiss crossed her arms.

"Uh…" Yang squirmed, didn't know where to start. She had been away for so long; she didn't know what to tell all of a sudden.

"I'll go first then." Blake noticed Yang's dilemma. The blonde nodded as Blake cleared her throat.

"First of all, I'm really glad I chose to be at Secret Base tonight." The Faunus smiled, "And I'm even happier that we all are here now."

"Okay." Weiss said.

"I was lost. I met Yang around two years ago and she told me…that we were all actually huge idiots."

Yang chuckled and Weiss scowled.

"When she told me that we all assumed each other's thoughts without actually trying to communicate…everything became so clear."

Weiss' eyes widened at that statement; they knew how the heiress felt at the moment – they both went through the same realization process.

"My friends told me that." Yang shrugged, "They said we lack communication and that's when I realized…they were right. And that we were idiots."

"So, I'm gonna tell you everything and you must promised me not to blame yourself or get angry, okay?"

Weiss shakily nodded.

"Can't promise, kitten." Yang grinned.

Blake smiled; it felt like they were talking to each other before all these nasty things happened.

"Okay. So first of all…" She turned to Ruby, "I apologize for running away and not coming here to see you, Ruby."

"Me too." Yang mumbled.

"Second of all…Yang."

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry for pushing you away when you tried to help."

"Okay." Yang smirked.

"Lastly…Weiss."

The heiress gulped.

"I'm sorry to dump everything onto you." Blake apologized sincerely.

"I'm the one that's at fault, Blake. I even abandoned you." Weiss shook her head.

"Sssh princess. Remember what we just promised? No blaming ourselves."

"Right…"

"So, care to tell us what happened after…I left?" Yang took a deep breath trying to not break that promise.

"After you…disappeared."

Yang nodded.

"Weiss and I studied in Signal. At first we were good…then I kept on blaming myself for being jealous because Weiss paid full attention on you who were missing instead of me who stayed by her side all the time." Blake's face turned red slightly.

"I had no idea…" Weiss' eyes were teary.

"Sorry, Weiss. That was very selfish of me. Then, she told me…about what happened between you both."

Weiss' mouth opened as she turned to Yang, but Yang put an index finger at her own lips and shook her head.

"Let Blake finish first."

The heiress nodded lightly and turned her attention back to the Faunus.

"That's when Ruby was moved here. We went to Secret Base at night after we visited her before she was moved…and I…told Weiss about my feelings for her.

"I was really confused. I saw a guy hitting on Weiss and my heart hurt…but I told myself it was fine. I genuinely wanted you to be happy, Weiss. And then you left. I was heartbroken. What left the real impact on me was…the death of my parents."

"Dust…" Weiss' face expression horrified, "I didn't know…I'm so sorry, Blake. I…how?"

"Avalanche. It's okay Weiss. It was hard but I've lived through it. My parents were resting in peace now, so I guess I shouldn't dwell in the past too much."

Yang smiled; she was proud that all of them had grown up. The way Blake was talking was as if she was telling someone else's story. She was so calm, but at the same time the feelings that she poured out was very real and touching.

If they were the same as nine years ago, they would've been blaming themselves, kicking the chairs or running away.

But they were different now.

They could do this – they had to do this.

 _"_ _As long as we want to be together, we'll always be, even if we're in different places."_

 _"_ _Distance doesn't separate friendship, Yang. Only the will to not stay as friends does."_

What Weiss told her that night was so correct. It was because they still wanted to be together even after experiencing so much things that they could sit down and talk and face their fear.

"After that, I did something really terrible." Blake shook her head, "I pushed Team JNPR out of the way when they tried to comfort me."

"Juniper?" Yang asked.

"It's our friends in Signal. They lived at the opposite dorm of us." Weiss answered, "I felt guilty for leaving them behind too…"

"I avoided their good intentions and went to the street alone…and that's when I met Adam."

The mention of the name caused the room temperature to rise, but it quickly went back down after Blake shot Yang a look. The blonde wanted to ask about what happened to that abusive piece of shit, but she waited patiently; she knew if Blake continued to talk about her experience, it would eventually come to that.

"At first he was nice and I tried to be together with him just to…get rid of my feelings for Weiss. I thought that if Adam could help me to…stop loving Weiss…that would benefit both parties…Weiss didn't have to feel guilty and I didn't have to…"

She didn't finish that specific word, but both Weiss and Yang understood.

The heiress was getting more and more flabbergasted, as Blake continued to talk. She never knew about her friend's feelings all this time – she felt like she wasn't considerate enough to notice all of that.

"After that, I ran with him…" Blake bit her lips, "And I joined the White Fang."

Weiss' eyes widened as she stood up, startling everyone.

" _What?!_ "

"Chill, Weiss, let her finish. It's gonna be fine, just listen her out." Yang wanted to touch her, but stopped before making skin contact.

There was still that little hint of fear inside her that Weiss would once again reject her.

The heiress took a deep breath before sitting down.

"It was a peaceful organization at first, but when Adam took the place…" Blake paused and both her friends nodded.

They had seen and experienced it themselves.

"I left him on a train one day and since then he'd been hunting me…and he found me a week after. I was…" The Faunus shivered a bit before continuing, "Terribly beaten…and I ran to Secret Base after he was satisfied with it. And then I met Yang there."

The blonde smiled gently.

"I told her everything. I told her that I was overjoyed when she left…and stuff like that…" Blake looked at the blonde with apologetic eyes.

She smirked back playfully.

Blake understood that smirk – they had been best friends for years.

It meant 'It's okay, little kitten".

"I didn't want Yang to have anything to do with Adam. I've seen what he's capable of…and I knew she'd want to beat him up for hurting me. So…I ran…again.

"I was confused…and I was really sad. The only ones I could go to either died…or became a monster. But when I was in the midst of despair…I remembered them…Ren and Nora."

"Oh, they were a part of Team JNPR." Yang clicked her finger.

The robotic one.

So instead of a click, it turned out to be metal clashing noises.

She scratched her head, then turned to Blake pleading her to go on so that it wouldn't get any more awkward.

"So…I kind of was in touch with them. I lived near the border between Vale and Atlas, occasionally doing missions for liens. Until one day, Yang located me again, telling me about the White Fang's plan on killing you." The Faunus turned to Weiss.

"You were involved too?!" The heiress squeaked.

"Kind of." Blake answered, "Yang and I were in that operation."

Weiss' mouth kept opening and closing; her brain was looking for a suitable response, but clearly she couldn't.

"Never mind. Just…go on first." She pinched the bridge of her nose.

Compared to her rather peaceful life (except for the attacks of White Fang) her friends' were rather intense…and complicated.

Weiss' was more of a confused and emotional one.

Like thinking if she liked Blake and Yang romantically for countless days.

And nights.

"We were disguised as Atlas soldiers, and were on standby on top of the train carts."

"Atlas soldiers…"

"Then…Adam came. Qrow, Yang and I were fighting him, until the lieutenant was involved. Qrow went to fight him and Adam was overpowering us. I saw…" Blake's face expression was twisting as she turned to the blonde, "I saw…Yang's limbs…getting cut off…"

Yang couldn't stop herself from trembling – although two years had passed since that incident, she could never forget that excruciating pain of her own limbs getting detached.

It was a miracle she didn't suffer from severe PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).

"She lied there unconscious, no one was around to help; everyone was fighting their own battle. And then, I made a decision." She paused a while, "I ambushed Adam and we fell down from the train together."

Weiss used all of her willpower to stop herself from breaking down.

The sight of Yang's limbs getting cut off and Blake falling deep into the mountain couldn't be shaken off from her vivid imagination.

She could faintly remember that she was blasted through the roof by the lieutenant – and the chainsaw left a shallow cut on her left eye. Just right before she passed out, she saw flaming red hair and two women in Atlas military uniform along with a huge scythe.

But it never occurred to her that those two were the people she wanted to see the most, but was afraid to.

 _Dust, that was them…_

"I…saw you…before I fainted…" Weiss whispered.

Blake smiled as she continued.

"The mountain was pretty deep. I thought I was dead when I fell but…as luck would have it, I landed on some soft sand that cushioned the impact."

"Where's Adam?" Yang asked with a tone of seriousness.

"He's dead." Blake answered immediately, "We were surrounded by Grimm when we got to the ground and he sacrificed himself to save me. I was unable to fight, but I managed to survive as he carried me and ran all the way to the nearest village. Just right before we reached the safe area, he threw me inside and was gobbled up by a Nevermore immediately."

Adam was abusive, but he did love her.

"Then why did you disappear for two years?" The blonde asked.

Knowing that Adam was no longer alive had made them feel relieved – totally.

"I was severely injured." Blake said, "My insides were pretty messed up and it took me months to be able to even talk. I'm sorry I didn't contact you, my scroll was busted."

Yang shook her head.

"The village was a temporary one. It seemed to be that tribe's tradition to keep migrating. I think they were called nomads? They took care of me until I was able to properly walk, and that took a few months too.

"It was a rather traditional group of people; they didn't have any advanced communication device. But they were good at fighting Grimm. They used traditional weapons, and it worked just fine. I tagged along with their route all the way until they reached the city. I'm sorry Yang, I couldn't run off on my own because the desert was…dangerous."

"Yeah, I get it."

"It was around two days ago when I reached the city. I immediately contacted the Huntsmen Union branch there but they didn't recognize me. They took a whole day to run identification and got all the necessary documents processed before granting me access to get back to Atlas."

"But you didn't."

"Yes." Blake took a deep breath, "I…sort of want to try and see if I will bump into you in Secret Base…so I didn't contact you and instead just came here straight."

"And you were lucky to bump into us. The both of us." Yang turned to Weiss who was still processing all these things.

"There was a girl in that tribe who took care of me…she asked me one day that if I believe in destiny. At first I didn't understand her but…now I do."

Team RWBY was destined to meet each other twelve years ago.

They were destined to become friends, to love each other unconditionally and to spend time together.

Until Ruby was involved in that horrible accident.

"I don't." Weiss said as both of them turned to her.

"Weiss?" Blake tilted her head.

"Ruby Rose was the one that brought us together. She formed Team RWBY, she brought us happiness. And with her being in a coma, we were separated. It wasn't destiny; it was her, this precious little gem. It is fine if we have different opinions, but…" Weiss took a deep breath, "I somehow, think that destiny relies on our decisions. If Ruby didn't announce us being friends, we wouldn't be together. If Blake didn't make a decision to come here instead, we wouldn't have been here. It wasn't destiny; it was the crossing outcomes of our decision."

Blake just sighed while smiling and Yang was scratching her head.

"Too deep…"

"Well, forget that." Weiss blushed.

"So, do you have anything else to say, kitten?"

"Yes."

"Spit it."

Blake stood up, cleared her throat and looked at the freezerburn pair.

"I have decided I will fight for what I want. Now that I've got us – Team RWBY back…" She turned to Yang, "The other thing that I really want would be Weiss."

"I beg your pardon?!"

Yang just smirked and raised her eyebrow.

"So, Yang Xiao Long, I, Blake Belladonna, challenge you for a battle to gain Weiss' affection."

Weiss' mouth was ajar; she couldn't quite catch on to them.

 _What on Remnant were they saying?!_

"Challenge accepted, kitten." Yang grinned.

Blake smirked back to her friend.

If only they could do this instead of assuming things nine years ago, they wouldn't have become this injured today.

But their decisions back then brought them here now, and no matter if they regret it or not, it was the past and no one could change it.

Blake smiled; she was glad to be honest with her friends. It felt so light, unlike how she was bottling up everything those years back then. Not only did she hurt herself, but also the people she loved.

She had grown to understand this, and she was sure that Yang was the same.

" _Excuse me?!_ " Weiss squealed.

 **#**

 **Okay, this took me so long to finish.**

 **First of all, I couldn't quite focus on stuff these few days. I ran into a door, went out of my house forgetting to wear shoes, or opened the fridge when I actually wanted to open the rice cooker beside it.**

 **I have no idea what on Remnant was wrong with me.**

 **But I finished it anyway.**

 **It's back to fluff time. The angst and drama were over now!**

 **Anyway that's it this time. Weiss and Yang's thoughts will be shown in the next few chapters.**

 **I do not own RWBY.**


	24. Chapter 24 - Ice Queen

**Special thanks to my buddy:**

 **Pearl Darkness.**

* * *

 **Yeah, I've been working on this for quite a while. I hope it turns out to be okay. Life's a mess lately.**

 **Also, if you guys noticed, I mention a reader's name in my stories starting from 'Bees and a Rose'. That's my reward for my Patrons. They'll be mentioned on every story I wrote after they pledge me (And dedicate a story to'em). For now I only have one, and hopefully will get more support as I write. Thanks a lot, Pearl Darkness!**

 **I do not own RWBY.**

 **Pa-treon: The Tanker, FB Page: IBurn 'Tank' RWBY Fanfic Author**

 **#**

 **Chapter 24: Ice Queen**

"I-"

"Nuh-uh princess. It's my turn now." Yang smirked, "You'll have to wait."

Weiss' face twisted with a mixture of dissatisfaction and anger. After a while, she gave up.

"Fine." The ice queen sat back on her chair with legs crossed.

She decided she wouldn't win this argument, so she backed down to prepare everything she wanted to ask _and_ give the both of them a good round of lecture at the same time.

Not that she was any less guilty than Blake and Yang, but she was the only one outside the loop. A lot of things happened without her knowledge and almost all of them were closely related to her.

Naturally, she didn't want to be oblivious to these things.

Her eyes couldn't be kept off the pair of robotic limbs and the Faunus sitting beside her.

 _What happened without me knowing it? I can't even imagine how much they've gone through because of me…and Dust, I don't even know if I like them in a romantic way…_

"Well…I'll just start with the very beginning." Yang cleared her throat.

Blake just nodded and Weiss scowled.

"Okay…" She turned to Ruby, "Sorry, Rubes, for not coming to visit you. I was a coward."

"Yang, you already apologized just no-"

"I know!" Yang interrupted Blake before she could finish the sentence.

Even Weiss had jumped slightly because of the sudden outburst – as well as the rise of temperature.

"I'm sorry…" Yang calmed herself down by taking a deep breath.

When her eyes finally turned back to lilac, she sent the both of them an apologetic look. They nodded to tell her it was fine.

"I…I know I did. I'm really sorry for yelling at you. I…I just wanted to properly do it."

Ruby showed no sign of waking up at all; she just lied there with a machine monitoring her body.

"Unrequited love is a really common thing." Yang continued, "I knew that back when I…before I snapped and…"

She touched her lips and gulped before continuing.

"And…kissed Weiss."

"You cunning little dragon." Blake smirked, but couldn't hide her jealousy. Yang got the message.

"Excuse me?! I'm the victim here! I just got kissed without any warning!" Weiss squeaked.

"But it sure felt good." Yang smirked, "Because it's my lips~"

Yang knew her best friend was purposely teasing the heiress to lower the tension, so she joined in.

"Well, how did her lips feel Yang?"

Weiss didn't even know how to react now – that kiss was the very first (well not exactly) of the reasons they all fell apart. And the fact that Blake and Yang joked about it was…irritating.

It tortured her for nine years!

How dare they joke about a serious matter like that?!

"Didn't pay much attention." Yang shrugged, "It was rough."

"Ouch."

" _Yang Xiao Long, Blake Belladonna!_ "

"Tsk tsk." Yang motioned her robotic index finger left and right as she winked, "Feeling better now?"

"Yang, that doesn't count." Blake said.

"Aww, I thought the battle had already started."

"Wow, we didn't see each other for nine years…I mean, me and you both, and all we do right now is…oh I don't know, battling to gain my affection?" Weiss retorted in a sarcastic manner after she calmed herself down in time. Being the CEO of a company that big actually helped.

"Finally admitting that you're gay, princess?"

"Wha-" Weiss' face turned as red as Ruby's cloak; she bit her lips and looked to the other direction, crossing her arms while mumbling something inaudible to the both of them.

"Oh, means we have a chance." Blake smirked as she tilted her head.

"Took her long enough." Yang mimicked her friend, "Nine years though."

"Can we just get back to the talk?" The heiress whispered.

She wasn't sure if that was real yet.

If it was, then she wasn't sure if she was ready yet.

Probably not.

Things were going too fast for her.

"Say please." Yang teased.

"…"

"Yang, stop."

"Oh, you're standing on her side now? That's not gonna add points kitty cat!"

"Please."

"Oh, it worked."

"I hate the both of you."

"Aww, but we love you."

"Yang, for real, stop."

The blonde grinned slyly, but her expression became serious immediately afterwards.

"But I mean it. I know Blake very well and I can tell she loves you as much as I do." She confessed, "I couldn't bring myself to forget you ever since I left. I made friends with Junior…he's a club owner at downtown Vale. He has two hot female bodyguards and…once, I told myself that…maybe, you know, if I flirt with them…I'll eventually fall in love with them and forget you."

Yang took a deep breath.

"But yeah, I couldn't. I was really frustrated. I took on difficult missions in hope that I would die as a glory huntress on the battlefield, but I…I survived. All of'em. At first I didn't know why and I thought I was strong. But it turned out to be…y'know, the will to see you, Weiss."

The heiress' expression softened.

"I soloed an SS level mission before I saw Blake in Secret Base four years ago."

"SS level?! Alone? What are you, brainless?!" Weiss yelped.

"Look, that's not the point…so I made it back safe and sound." Yang ignored the angry Schnee, "Then I went to Secret Base to visit Topaz…and I met Blake. She was freezing and her clothes were torn. I genuinely thought that she was raped and I got really angry."

Blake recalled the time when Adam beat her – she was lucky that the man didn't do anything beyond that.

"We talked and…well, it didn't exactly go well."

"I ran…"

"Yeah. I went back to the club after that, determined to dig out that bastard. Junior then refused to tell me stuff about Adam because he said it was dangerous."

"He was damn right." Blake interrupted.

"I'm glad he didn't tell me. If he did, I would've been…well, it would've cost me more than an arm and leg."

"Yang-"

"Okay I'll stop. Anyway, the Malachites…ah, the two female bodyguards I mentioned…they talked some sense into me. And when I realized everything, Roman appeared out of nowhere.

"We talked and had come to a conclusion that if we wanted to bring down Adam…to bring down the White Fang, we'd need help. So he contacted Qrow and the Huntsmen Union while I went to gather intel. After that…it was pretty much the same as what Blake told you.

"So you don't have to feel guilty for anything, Weiss. We didn't join the operation solely to protect you, it was to protect Remnant and you just happened to be a part of it. In fact we're the ones to apologize because we used you as bait. Guess I paid with my limbs. It hurt real bad though, it took me around a year to properly recover." Yang played with her prosthetic arm, "The surgery of attaching these robotic parts took months too. I heard the arm surgery caused a lot of bleeding so it really took some time before I could get out of bed."

"I see…" Weiss mumbled; everything was clear as crystal now.

"Okay…that's all I wanna say." Yang crossed her arms, "Your turn now, princess."

Blake's cat ears perked up immediately; she knew both Yang and her were dead curious about Weiss' life after they left.

Weiss rarely appeared in the media despite being the CEO of the biggest company in the world. Little was known about her private life and there wasn't even a single gossip about her in any magazines.

Nobody dared to harass a Schnee.

The heiress took a deep breath before starting.

"First of all, I'm really sorry to the both of you." She said, "I did terrible things."

"Okay…" The bumblebees said at the same time.

"Second of all, I'm not quite sure how I feel about you two yet."

"We know that." Yang shrugged.

"Mmhmm."

"And third of all…how dare you joke about the…bad things that happened…that caused us…Team RWBY to fall apart!" Weiss pointed her index finger at Yang, then Blake.

"Well…the exact reason that we fell apart was because of Ruby." Yang answered calmly.

Weiss turned to Ruby and sighed before sitting back on the chair.

"I sometimes wonder…what would've happened…if Ruby wasn't sleeping in a hospital bed." The heiress said with a soft tone.

And that efficiently made the black and the yellow gone from a joking mood to a serious one.

"It would've been pretty much the same." Blake answered.

"Blake?"

"I don't know if you noticed…but the tension between us was strong. Ruby knew it…she knew about our feelings all along."

"Yeah…" Yang recalled Ruby asking her what was wrong when they were training with weapons in Secret Base for the first time.

"But, she's the best." Blake smiled gently, "She would probably help us out."

There was a moment of silent before a certain heiress broke it.

"Well…I have not much to say. Aside from regretting greatly what I've done and how I reacted back then…what left was the endless apologies I owe you two."

"Okay…we're all at fault. Let's just start new." Blake said.

"Yeah. And we can go back to what we once were. We can go back to Team RWBY. We can be with each other and…fulfill the vow we…made…" Yang slowed down, forcing her brain to recall an important memory, "Did we make a vow…wait…"

"Yes Yang, we did." Weiss answered, "We vowed to be friends forever. We vowed to stop running away, to trust each other. We also…promised to watch fireworks together in the summer festival."

Amber and lilac orbs shone brightly as the ice queen mentioned the fireworks.

The memories of that day were very fresh in their mind – Ruby trying out all the sweets; Weiss trying to destroy Yang in the mathematics game but got backfired instead; Blake trying her best to scoop for goldfish instead of eating them.

"We promised to watch the firework ten years after no?" Blake tilted her head.

"Mmhmm. Hey, we still have time left!" Yang threw up both her hands and turned to Ruby, "Hey Rubes, better wake up soon! We still have to watch fireworks together!"

Weiss looked at her friends talking to the sleeping beauty in excitement as her mind drifted to her busy life years ago.

And that she had rejected Neptune Vasilias although she was interested in him.

Blake and Yang had gone through nine years of adventures, suffers and pain, but Weiss' was mundane.

Eat, sleep, work, thinking about her feelings towards the both of them, thinking about the past and the team, losing her sleep and decided to work again, rinse and repeat.

And all of these went on for nine years until she finally made a decision to visit Secret Base just hours ago – and met the people she loved the most.

A rush of insecurity washed her heart the more she thought about it.

What if the scene in front of her was merely a dream?

When she opened her eyes, Blake and Yang would still be missing and she was still so afraid to step out from where she stood all along.

"Weiss?"

The heiress blinked, then turned to Blake who had been calling her for a while.

"Are you okay?"

"I…I'm not dreaming…am I?"

"No you're not, princess." Yang grinned, "We're here now. We're back together again. Hey, I think we should celebrate this reunion."

Weiss held out her hands subconsciously as the blonde laughed merrily after saying that they should visit Junior's club.

She needed to touch them; she needed to feel them to make sure that she wasn't dreaming.

"Hey hey, we're here." Blake took her hand and smiled.

Tears spilled out from Weiss' eyes as she let out all the pain that she had been feeling. Blake hugged her and she reciprocated, Yang soon joining them in a big group hug.

The heiress could feel their heartbeats and warmth – although the metal arm was icy cold, she could feel the mighty dragon's aura surrounding it. And Blake's scent…Dust, how she missed her friends.

#

"I'm…just glad that they're back together…again…"

"Sssh. C'mere love." Qrow hugged his wife.

Summer tried her best to control her volume so that the girls wouldn't spot them standing just outside the room.

They didn't want to disturb that wonderful atmosphere inside with their daughter.

"Let's come back later." Qrow smiled and kissed the top of Summer's head.

#

After spending some time hugging the weeping heiress, both Blake and Yang had been influenced by her and started crying too.

All of them ended up sobbing in each other's arm for quite a while.

When they were finally settled down, Weiss suggested having a nice shower and breakfast at her house. The bumblebees affirmed immediately.

#

They were disappointed.

Weiss' house wasn't the great Schnee mansion that could fit twenty airships inside.

It was a normal apartment with _only one bathroom._

Apparently, that huge mansion belonged to her parents and Weiss didn't want to share a house with them.

Yang guessed it was because she couldn't do whatever she wanted to with her parents present. Especially things that were related with…a box of tissue.

And a scroll.

Blake on the other hand guessed it was because Weiss didn't like her privacy to be invaded.

They came to an agreement that Weiss should be the first one going into the shower, since she was the owner of this house.

While she was enjoying the hot shower, the bumblebees took their sweet time touring this fancy apartment.

It wasn't as luxury as the Schnee mansion, but boy this apartment wasn't something an ordinary resident of Remnant could afford.

The bedroom alone was twice Yang's apartment size. It was beautifully designed with various Schnee-related logos and themes surrounding it; the white and blue themed wallpaper had made the whole place felt very cooling. Or it could be the air-conditioning.

"Say…" Yang sat on the soft couch as Blake settled beside her, "Do you think we're a bit…y'know, forceful on Weiss?"

Blake's eyebrows furrowed and a little while later she sighed.

"I think we were."

"Do you think we should talk…?"

"No."

"Huh?"

"Just…just let go of the past Yang. We promised to start new." Blake smiled.

The blonde paused for a moment.

Everyone thought that they were at fault and when they confronted each other, everyone thought that their fault was the heaviest.

This angst had to end.

"Yeah. I get it. Also, Blake?"

"Yes?"

"If…I mean, I think we should set some rules with this…battle."

Blake nodded; she understood what Yang was trying to say. She knew that men had their 'code' when it came to pursuing the same girl, and that was what Yang meant.

The only difference was that they were both girls.

"I don't think we need to explain it out loud." Blake shrugged, "I think you and me both understand this very well."

Yang tilted her head and smiled smugly.

"I will be winning this."

"Oh you wish."

The bumblebees remained silent then, both thinking of ways to win Weiss over.

Yang was certain that she would win this time. She looked at her right arm, thinking about that new feature she had planned to add in that would make Weiss go _mad_ and scream her name with pleasure.

Blake on the other hand was feeling lucky because of the library inside her brain. She had read a lot of books; romance was one of her favorite genre and she had a pretty good idea of what romantic things that girls would absolutely love.

Just as they were plotting their crazy plans, the bathroom door opened and a certain heiress emerged. She wore a casual T-shirt that was white and yellow in color, as well as a black colored short.

Yang and Blake was amazed.

Firstly, they had never seen Weiss in _casual clothes._

At least not as casual as this one.

Ever since Weiss started taking combat lessons from Glynda, she only wore her combat attire. Save for the 'date' of Yang and Weiss in the central shopping district, they had only seen her in suit.

So seeing the heiress' current attire had stunned the bumblebees.

And secondly, she was _absolutely_ gorgeous.

She still maintained that petite figure of hers, and her breasts weren't considered big either, but the dancer's muscles that grew intensely on her body was what made her different from the past. On top of that, Weiss with her hair down was a major turn on.

The heiress was wiping her hair with a soft white towel when she walked straight towards the duo.

"It's your turn now." She stopped right in front of them, then bent her body a bit so that she would be eye level with the both of them, "Blake? Yang?"

They were snapped out of it at exactly two seconds later.

"Wow, princess, you really had grown up over the years." Yang raised one of her eyebrow.

Blake blushed because of her Faunus smelling picking up the scent of Weiss' shampoo _way more_ intensely than normal. She could tell every ingredient that was used to make that specific shampoo.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Weiss, you're really pretty." Blake said calmly after regaining her usual posture.

"Hey, no fair kitten, you stole my line!" Yang pouted.

"The both of you, stop!" Weiss half shouted as she put both her hands on her waist, "What's with this battling to gain my affection thing? If I recall it correctly, I have _never_ approved of such silly competition!"

"But you like us!" Yang grinned slyly, then proceeded to unbutton her shirt a bit, "And you like these~"

Weiss tried.

She tried really hard not to look, but her eyes acted faster than her brain, and-

"Ha, caught right in the act!" The blonde pointed at her with her index finger.

The heiress was about to hang her up using her glyphs, but Blake spoke before she managed to grab Myrtenaster.

"Weiss, please give us a chance?" Blake said; her eyes were full of emotions.

"Yeah. You don't have to force yourself to do anything that you don't like to." Yang continued, her expression became serious, "But we would like to try. And we would like to ask you to give the both of us – to give yourself a chance. We love you, Weiss. We love you."

The heiress looked at them.

She knew they weren't joking at all. They were dead serious, and Weiss herself could tell that they _really_ love her very much. It had been nine years, and their feelings had never changed; they sacrificed a lot for her and never asking anything in return.

If it wasn't love, then Weiss didn't know what it was.

But she was afraid.

If she agreed to give them a chance, that also meant that she would have to choose one and potentially break the other one's heart. They were already wounded in the past, and Weiss wasn't sure if they could take another hit. What if they just shattered and were impossible to be recovered anymore?

"Hey, it'll be fine." Yang said after sensing her insecurity, "It's fine, Weiss. We understand."

"That's what love is." Blake said, "Whether our feelings were reciprocated or not, it doesn't matter. What matters is that we properly conveyed them to you. We'll have no regret no matter what your decision was."

Weiss gulped, frowned, narrowed her eye and finally, sighed.

"Alright then. But in all seriousness, I'm not responsible for any…incident in the process. You promised me this."

"Aye, ice queen!"

"Minus one mark for Yang Xiao Long."

" _Nooooooo!_ "

 **#**

 **I started writing this chapter like…I don't know, a month or two ago? And it's only completed now. It's super hard to continue a story that I've left untouched for so long. I hope I didn't screw up.**

 **The next chapters would be bumblebees competing for Ice Queen's affection and although I didn't plan anything (I always plan for each chapter of the stories I write), I can assure you that it'll be incredibly silly.**

 **Anyway, that's it. I'm sorry I took so long to update this.**

 **If you're wondering what story is coming up next, visit the 'Coming up next' section of my profile. I update'em after I posted every new chapter/story. If you're wondering what's going on with my life, you can visit the 'Announcement' section too.**

 **And done, bye!**

 **I do not own RWBY.**

 **Pa-treon: The Tanker, FB Page: IBurn 'Tank' RWBY Fanfic Author**

* * *

 **Special thanks to my buddy:**

 **Pearl Darkness.**


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